Ahead of a scheduled Republican campaign debate in the United States, former presidential nominee Mitt Romney has unleashed an unprecedented verbal attack on Donald Trump.
A billionaire businessman and party outsider, Mr Trump is currently the favourite to become the party's 2016 nominee for president at July's national convention.
Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has launched a scathing attack on Donald Trump, alleging he is trying to, as he puts it, "cheat" his way into office.
Mr Romney, the party's nominee in the last election, blasted both Mr Trump's personal and political attributes.
"Here's what I know: Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He's playing the members of the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House, and all we get is a lousy hat. His domestic policies would lead to recession. His foreign policies would make America and the world less safe. He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president. And his personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill. The bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third-grade theatrics ... Now imagine your children and your grandchildren acting the way he does. Would you welcome that?"
Mr Romney also criticised the billionaire's business sense and accused him of failing to embody the qualities of a true conservative.
Donald Trump has switched political allegiances several times in the past and was previously a member of the Democratic Party.
Mr Romney says he is particularly wary of Mr Trump's foreign policy, calling it reckless and ill-informed.
"And then what he said on 60 Minutes, did you hear this? It was about Syria and ISIS, and it has to go down as the most ridiculous and dangerous idea of the entire campaign season. 'Let ISIS take out Assad,' he said, 'and then we can pick up the remnants.' Now think about that. Let the most dangerous terror organisation the world has ever known take over an entire country? This recklessness is recklessness in the extreme. And Donald Trump tells us that he is very, very smart. I'm afraid that, when it comes to foreign policy, he is very, very not smart."
Mr Trump has previously expressed controversial views on such issues as the US relationships with Russia and China and plans to keep Mexicans and Muslims out of the United States.
Almost 100 Republican foreign-policy experts have pledged to oppose the former reality-television host, saying his policies would undermine national security and international relations.
The prospect of the 69-year-old becoming the Republican nominee has shocked the party establishment, with some allegedly looking at ways to block him from the White House.
The US television network CNN reports Mr Romney is planning to block him from winning the nomination at the party's national convention.
Mr Trump has hit back, saying Mr Romney is jealous of his campaign success after his own failure in 2012.
"I'll just address it quickly, because it's irrelevant. Look, Mitt is a failed candidate. He failed. He failed badly. That was a race, I have to say, folks, that should have been won. I don't know what happened to him. He disappeared. And I wasn't happy about it, I'll be honest, because I am not a fan of Barack Obama. And that was a race that I backed Mitt Romney. I backed him. You can see how loyal he is. He was begging for my endorsement. I could have said, 'Mitt, drop to your knees,' he would have dropped to his knees. He was begging. He was begging me."
Ohio state governor John Kasich, running against Mr Trump, declined to support Mr Romney's comments, saying calling him names was not the right approach.
"I think the notion that you can beat Trump by calling him names, I don't think you get there that way. I'm not going that way, and I'm not using that kind of rhetoric, because, look, I believe that, over time, people will have a chance to hear things, and, if I win Ohio, he's not going to be the nominee. I mean, we're going to go to the convention, and I'm going to be the nominee."
Another candidate, Florida senator Marco Rubio, who has previously described Donald Trump as a con man, was less reserved.
"If we choose Donald Trump as our nominee, we will lose in November. If we choose Donald Trump as our nominee, we will put in charge of the conservative movement someone who is not really a conservative. And if we choose Donald Trump as our nominee, he will have carried out the most elaborate con job in the history of American politics."
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