Is George W. Bush sitting out this presidential race? The answer is yes, now that Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party, both former Presidents Bush 43 and George H. W. Bush have announced that they will not be endorsing the billionaire, who insulted their family too many times to count during the primaries.
Both former presidents – George W. Bush and George H. W. Bush are sitting out the 2016 presidential election. The reason?
In two words – Donald Trump. On Wednesday, Ohio Governor John Kasich dropped out of the race, following Ted Cruz‘s exit after losing Indiana – making Trump the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee.
Many big names in Republican politics including Senators Dean Heller, of Nevada, and Ben Sasse, of Nebraska, and conservative blogger Erick Erickson immediately stepped out to say that nothing on this planet will make them vote for Trump. Erickson even went on to explain that they are laying groundwork for a third-party candidate to oppose Trump and Hillary Clinton in the general election.
While President George W. Bush did not go as far as jumping on the #NeverTrump movement, he came very close. Bush spokesman Freddy Ford said he is staying out of presidential campaign and added:
“President Bush does not plan to participate in or comment on the presidential campaign.”
The statement by Jim McGrath, a spokesman for George H. W. Bush, echoed the same sentiment. McGrath stated:
“At age 91, President Bush is retired from politics. He naturally did a few things to help Jeb, but those were the ‘exceptions that proved the rule’.”
It has also been confirmed that just like Arizona Senator John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, the entire Bush family will skip the Republican convention in Cleveland.
The Bush clan was slammed during the primaries as Trump was trying to get under Jeb Bush’s skin.
Among the most memorable digs – Trump repeated on several occasions that George W. Bush made the country less safe and blamed him for the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He also called Bush a liar, who created out of thin air the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to justify the 2003 war.
