Trump and Romney are feuding again

Donald Trump hit back at Mitt Romney Wednesday, after the Utah senator-elect wrote a stinging op-ed attacking the president’s leadership.

“Here we go with Mitt Romney,” Trump tweeted, adding “I won big, and he didn’t. He should be happy for all Republicans. Be a TEAM player & WIN!”

Romney, who secured Trump’s backing ahead of the November midterms, has been an inconsistent Trump critic, attacking him during the 2016 election, but also courting him for the job of secretary of state.

Writing in The Washington Post, Romney said Trump lacked the character to lead a “divided” nation.

“The appointment of senior persons of lesser experience, the abandonment of allies who fight beside us, and the president’s thoughtless claim that America has long been a ‘sucker’ in world affairs all defined his presidency down,” he wrote.

“On balance, his conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions this month, is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office.”

Romney singled out Trump’s inability to unite the country as the his biggest failing.

“With the nation so divided, resentful and angry, presidential leadership in qualities of character is indispensable. And it is in this province where the incumbent’s shortfall has been most glaring.”

READ: It took one Trump tweet for Romney to fall in line

Romney did offer some praise, saying he backed the administration’s tax policy, its aggressive stance towards China and appointing conservative judges — but added that these were mainstream Republican policies.

Brad Parscale, Trump’s campaign manager for his 2020 re-election bid, hit back at Romney on Twitter, accusing him of “jealously.”

Cover image: Donald Trump, left, and Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, dine at Jean Georges Restaurant in New York, U.S., on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016. (John Angelillo/Pool via Bloomberg)