Was Romney's defeat one of the GOP's most disappointing?

[Arbitrage1980]

As a conservative who despises the Obama presidency, I was PUMPED up for Romney in 2012. At that point, I saw Romney as a strong nominee and thought he would make an awesome President. After the first debate, I really thought he had momentum, but sadly, he wasted that away in the closing weeks of the campaign. He did not fight back and let Candy Crowley run interference for Obama in the 2nd debate. Romney's defeat was devastating. But that campaign taught myself and the conservative base that no matter who we nominate, the Dems and their media propagandists will portray the GOP nominee as racist/sexist/xenophobe/cold hearted capitalist. So in 2016 we had to nominate a street fighter who would actually fight back. That man was Donald J. Trump, the current President of the United States.