Former Presidential nominee Mitt Romney unleashed a scathing verbal attack on Donald Trump Thursday morning in Salt Lake City.

Romney delivered blow after blow to the current Republican front-runner, imploring the GOP to support any of the other candidates.

"Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University," Romney said.

"He's playing the public for suckers. He gets a free ride to the White House and all we get is a lousy hat."

Romney also criticized Trump's mocking of a disabled reporter, his stance on foreign policy and a number of other topics.

"And his personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill," Romney stated.

Trump responded during a campaign rally in Maine.

"I backed him, you can see how loyal he is," Trump said, referring to his endorsement of Romney four years ago.

"He was begging for my endorsement. I could have said 'Mitt, drop to your knees', and he would have dropped to his knees."

Local Republicans didn't see the logic in Romney attacking their current party's front-runner, and they say that the attack could actually help Trump in the polls.

"I think Romney just got Trump a whole lot more votes going into the convention," said Dr. Dean Haddock of the Kern County Republican Party.

"Everything they do only helps Trump and gets more voters for him."

The Kern Republicans said that their phones had been ringing all morning, with the majority of callers siding with Trump.

"The overall response that we've gotten has been pretty negative towards Romney," said Matthew Bramin of the Kern County Young Republicans.

Bramin also said that the perceived turmoil within the party could make California's June primary more important than ever.

"California's primary delegates are gonna have an impact on the Republican National Convention," he said.

"So you could have a June 7th election that would decide the Republican nominee in a July convention."