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Mitt Romney on Thursday will give a major speech on his view of the 2016 presidential election, according to a news release from his office.

The Republican Party鈥檚 2012 presidential nominee will be appearing at the Hinckley Institute of Politics in Salt Lake City. The announcement said the subject of his talk was the 鈥渟tate of the race鈥� but gave no further details.

Hmm. 鈥淢ajor speech,鈥� 鈥渟tate of the race,鈥� what鈥檚 that mean? Is Mr. Romney going to endorse Marco Rubio or (less likely) one of the other remaining GOP hopefuls?

We鈥檇 guess that鈥檚 not the case. If he were, he鈥檇 be appearing onstage with the endorsee wherever he is campaigning. That wouldn鈥檛 be in Utah. Also, his friends and aides are saying it鈥檚 not that kind of speech.

鈥淐lose @MittRomney aide says he won鈥檛 endorse or get in, but tomorrow鈥檚 speech 鈥榳ill be worth covering,鈥� 鈥� tweeted NBC campaign reporter Andrew Rafferty.

Hold it a second, 鈥済et in鈥�? It鈥檚 kind of late for that since the primaries are about half over. Yes, Romney tried to run again at the start of the 2016 cycle, but he got elbowed out of the race by the juggernaut of the Jeb Bush campaign, if you remember. So maybe he鈥檚 having second, or third, thoughts. Or hoping that other people think he might be having those thoughts even if he isn鈥檛.

Is Romney going to anti-endorse Donald Trump? This seems more likely. Romney is clearly unhappy with the rise of The Donald, whose demeanor is the opposite of his and whose rise could mean the end of the low-tax, small-government, corporate-friendly GOP that Romney knows and presumably loves.

In recent weeks, Romney鈥檚 been sniping at Mr. Trump from the safety of social media and doing a decent job of it. His style has been to pile on when Trump is already getting pressure on certain stuff.

Thus Romney has urged Trump to release his back tax returns. He鈥檚 pushed Trump to make public off-the-record conversations with The New York Times. Most notably, he hit Trump for the latter鈥檚 slowness to disavow the endorsement of former KKK official David Duke.

鈥淎 disqualifying & disgusting response by @realDonaldTrump to the KKK,鈥� Romney tweeted on Monday. 鈥淗is coddling of repugnant bigotry is not in the character of America.鈥�

Tough words. Also effective words, since they roused Trump to respond with a fairly predictable 鈥渓oser鈥� taunt. Romney hasn鈥檛 fallen into the trap of exchanging adolescent jibes about body parts with Trump, as Senator Rubio has. Instead, Romney鈥檚 hit him quick on political substance and then moved on.

That may change Thursday. It鈥檚 even possible Romney will join the #NeverTrump movement and say he鈥檇 never vote for Trump if he鈥檚 the Republican nominee.

Would that matter? Well, it won鈥檛 derail Trump, who at this point is only a Florida primary win away from wrapping up the GOP presidential prize. Like so many Republican establishment figures, Romney is coming to the anti-Trump battle too late, with too little, to make a difference.

What it might do is give Romney a little free media exposure at a time when the GOP establishment may be mulling over its options. If there鈥檚 a revolt at a contentious convention, whom can the establishment offer as a legitimate Trump alternative? If the old GOP wants to split and field its own third-party candidate, who might that be?

Unlike Rubio or Ted Cruz, Romney鈥檚 never lost to Trump. So Romney may be implicitly offering himself as an alternative, whatever his speech鈥檚 specific words.