That’s great news, because, well, he’s Bush. And the Bush, long a family of first Republican politicians, aren’t exactly big fans of Trump. Jeb Bush announced in May 2016 that
he would not vote for Trump in the general election after losing to Trump in primary 2016 – in which the billionaire repeatedly taunted the former governor as “low-energy”. And in a 2019 interview with CNN’s David Axelrod, Jeb sparked a primary challenge for Trump. “Talking about what it’s like to be a conservative, I think is important,” he said.
No matter who the older Bushes plans to vote for, there is little debate that the family that created two of the last three Republican presidents doesn’t see exactly in the eyes of the current White House occupant – and vice versa. .
Just last month, after George W. Bush
published a video calling for national unity and common sacrifice in view of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic,
Trump tweeted it:
“Oh, goodbye, I appreciate the message from former President Bush, but where he was during the Impeachment that called for partisanship to be abandoned.” @foxandfriends Nowhere was he found speaking against the greatest Hoax in American history! “
Heavy feelings go back – just as Trump has long used the image of Bushas as extreme insiders to burn his credentials.
“We need another Bush in office about as much as we need Obama for a third term,” Trump tweeted back in 2013. “No more Bush!”
As the 2016 campaign rose, Trump banned Jebu Bush, who in the early days of the race was briefly considered a leading runner, relentless attacks on his family legacy.
“The war in Iraq was a big, big mistake,”
Trump said in the debate in February 2016. “They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction. There weren’t any.”
The Bush family retaliated. “(Trump) doesn’t give many answers on how to solve problems,” Barbara Bush, former first lady and mother of George and Jeb, told CNN 2016. “Let him make faces and say they insult things. Awful things about women, awful things about I don’t understand why people are because of him, because of that. “
Trump, because he’s Trump, never apologized for everything he said about Jeb and the Bush family during elementary. And the Bush, while calmer because of their contempt for Trump, never actually withdrew.
So why then would George P. Bush not only say he plans to vote for Trump, but will also resolutely give Trump a quote – “President Trump is the only thing standing between America and socialism” – to a media organization? After all, Trump has repeatedly raged his father in a deeply personal way. AND
Trump retweeted (and then deleted) the tweet read that “#JebBush must be liked by Mexican illegals because of his wife” also during the campaign. (Jeb Bush’s wife and George P. Bush’s mother, Columbus, are of Mexican descent.)
Answer? Politics, clean and simple.
George P. Bush is now in state office. (Yes, the land commissioner is the elected state office in Texas!) One eye will run for governor. Until Texas limits its governors, government Greg Abbott will spend eight years in office, in 2022, and
may have his eye on the candidacy for the open Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
It has already been set up by ambitious Republicans waiting to be launched if that happens — or if Lt. Col. Dan Patrick either retires or decides to run for the open governorship. And Bush really wants to be mixed for any of those offices.
And the simple fact – that George P. knows – is that there is NO conceivable path in Texas for a Republican nomination for governor or lieutenant colonel in Texas, let alone an outstanding Trump advocate and voter. For all its troubles with the wider electorate –
in Texas and nationally – Trump remains an absolutely respected figure among Texan Republicans, and it’s very hard to imagine that changing between now and 2022, even if the president addresses his candidacy for a second term in November.
Also, not only would voters rebel against George P. P. Trump would enjoy the chance – either in the office or outside of it – once again working on the Bush family working to keep George P. from winning a senior state office victory. (If you don’t think Trump is vindictive enough to do just that, let me guide you all my life.) So George P. is doing the only thing he can do to preserve his political future: he stands in the absolute position of locking in with Trump.
In doing so, George P. provides support to a man who personally attacked his father, mother, uncle and grandfather at every turn.
Ah, politics. Not for the visually impaired heart. Or the stomach.
