On the sideline of the implosion of the US Republican Party, Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee for the November election was the target of stray bullets by the combatants: Mitt Romney, the candidate beaten by Obama in 2012 and Donald Trump, the frontrunner among Republican aspirants.

Trump, in his response to Mitt Romney’s exceedingly scathing diatribe, hoped Hillary would have been arrested before the election day. He did not say for what offence, but Romney said Hillary’s years as secretary of state compromised America’s secrets.

In Romney’s words: ”On Hillary Clinton’s watch at the State Department, America’s interests were diminished in every corner of the world. She compromised our national secrets, dissembled to the families of the slain, and jettisoned her most profound beliefs to gain presidential power.

”For the last three decades, the Clintons have lived at the intersection of money and politics, trading their political influence to enrich their personal finances. They embody the term “crony capitalism.” It disgusts the American people and causes them to lose faith in our political process.

”A person so untrustworthy and dishonest as Hillary Clinton must not become president. But a Trump nomination enables her victory”.

Trump in his offhand response to Romney actually ruled out a contest with Hillary, who she said would have run rings around Mitt Romney, were he the candidate of the Republicans :

“But I tell him what really got him scared – and that was me. Hillary Clinton would have run rings around him. And assuming Hillary is going to run against me – if she’s not arrested,” Trump said.