STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
President Trump has endorsed Mitt Romney's campaign for U.S. Senate in Utah. It is surprising because of how they've spoken of each other in the past.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MITT ROMNEY: Dishonesty is Donald Trump's hallmark.
INSKEEP: Romney, of course, denounced Trump's 2016 campaign. And Trump returned fire by hammering Romney's effort back in 2012.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Mitt is a failed candidate. He failed. He failed horribly.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ROMNEY: There's plenty of evidence that Mr. Trump is a con man, a fake. Mr. Trump has changed his positions, not just over the years, but over the course of the campaign.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: Nobody could have been nastier than me in getting him not to run by saying he's a choke artist. And I will say, the reason I did that - he was going to run - I love our country too much.
INSKEEP: Now in 2018, with Senate control in the balance, the president says Romney, quote, "will make a great senator." Romney, who once said he would never have accepted Trump's past endorsement for president if he knew how awful Trump really was, tweeted back that he accepts this endorsement. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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