Jeb Bush will not be voting for the man who taunted him on national television, tarring him with humiliating nicknames and baseless insults, until his political career was over. Two days after his father and brother said that they wouldn’t be making to the GOP convention this summer, Jeb announced his intention to vote for neither major-party presidential candidate, in a Facebook post that can only be described as “low-energy.” After congratulating Trump on his primary win, and acknowledging the legitimate anger that the Donald gave voice to, Bush writes:
The American Presidency is an office that goes beyond just politics. It requires of its occupant great fortitude and humility and the temperament and strong character to deal with the unexpected challenges that will inevitably impact our nation in the next four years.
Donald Trump has not demonstrated that temperament or strength of character. He has not displayed a respect for the Constitution. And, he is not a consistent conservative. These are all reasons why I cannot support his candidacy.
Bush goes on to say he can’t support Hillary Clinton because of her dishonesty and liberalism, but that he will support “principled conservatives at the state and federal level.”
Bush joins former Republican nominee Mitt Romney, South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, and Nebraska senator Ben Sasse among prominent GOP politicians who have sworn not to support their party’s presumptive nominee.
Trump responded to Graham’s rebuke with a gracious note, observing that if he were in the senator’s shoes, he’d probably make the same decision.
As of this writing, Trump has yet to issue a reply to Bush’s Facebook post, but it seems safe to assume it will be similarly classy.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said that he was “not ready” to support Trump’s presidential bid on Thursday, saying that he would need the standard-bearer to prove that he truly “bears our standards.” Since then, the leaders have agreed to meet in Washington next week, to discuss “the kind of Republican principles and ideas that can win the support of the American people this November.”
If they cannot come to an agreement on those principles, the convention in Cleveland figures to be extraordinarily awkward: As the convention’s chairman, Ryan is slated to be, in Politico’s writing, “the emcee of the Trump coronation.”
