{"id":149023,"date":"2016-05-05T09:25:38","date_gmt":"2016-05-05T15:25:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=149023"},"modified":"2016-10-12T13:10:58","modified_gmt":"2016-10-12T19:10:58","slug":"bush-41-43-have-no-plans-to-endorse-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/05\/bush-41-43-have-no-plans-to-endorse-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Bush 41, 43 have no plans to endorse Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_149030\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-149030\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/4143bush-2016_jpg_800x1000_q100-771x512.jpg\" alt=\"Former U.S. Presidents George H.W. Bush (l) and George W. Bush.\" width=\"771\" height=\"512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/4143bush-2016_jpg_800x1000_q100-771x512.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/4143bush-2016_jpg_800x1000_q100-336x223.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/4143bush-2016_jpg_800x1000_q100-768x510.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/4143bush-2016_jpg_800x1000_q100.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Bob Daemmrich and Ralph Barrera \/ The Texas Tribune<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former U.S. Presidents George H.W. Bush (l) and George W. Bush.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>For the first time since his own presidency, George H.W. Bush is planning to stay silent in the race for the Oval Office \u2014 and the younger former president Bush plans to stay silent as well.<\/p>\n<p>Bush 41, who enthusiastically endorsed every Republican nominee for the past five election cycles, will stay out of the campaign process this time. He does not have plans to endorse presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, spokesman Jim McGrath told The Texas Tribune.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article originally appeared in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2016\/05\/04\/bush-41-43-have-no-plans-endorse-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Texas Tribune<\/a>,\u00a0a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cAt age 91, President Bush is retired from politics,\u201d McGrath wrote in an email Wednesday. \u201cHe came out of retirement to do a few things for Jeb, but those were the exceptions that proved the rule.\u201d His son Jeb Bush dropped out of the GOP presidential race in February.<\/p>\n<p>Bush 43, meanwhile, &#8220;does not plan to participate in or comment on the presidential campaign,&#8221; according to his personal aide, Freddy Ford.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday evening, Trump secured his place as the all-but-certain Republican nominee with a decisive win in the Indiana primary. Hours later, U.S. Sen.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/directory\/ted-cruz\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ted Cruz<\/a>\u00a0of Texas, who had hoped to force a contested Republican convention,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2016\/05\/03\/cruz-suffers-devastating-loss-indiana-primary\/\" target=\"_blank\">formally dropped out of the race<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat Ted did is a great thing to do because we want to bring unity to the Republican party,\u201d Trump said in his victory speech Tuesday night.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to bring unity \u2014 this is so much easier if we have it,\u201d Trump added.<\/p>\n<p>The unity Trump hopes to achieve might be difficult, given the positions other prominent Republicans have taken this election cycle. This week, Cruz called Trump a \u201cserial philanderer\u201d and \u201cpathological liar\u201d for whom \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2016\/05\/03\/bracing-indiana-loss-cruz-unloads-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\">morality doesn\u2019t exist<\/a>.\u201d In February, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, then a GOP candidate, called Trump a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2016\/02\/26\/dallas-rubio-eviscerates-con-artist-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\">con artist<\/a>,\u201d while then-candidate Jeb Bush suggested the Republican frontrunner\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/06\/politics\/jeb-bush-isis-donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\">might need therapy<\/a>.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Although George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush have not critiqued Trump in so many words, they have made some veiled criticisms. At a campaign event for his brother Jeb Bush in February, Bush 43 noted that\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/2016\/02\/16\/466933830\/w-is-back-6-quotes-from-campaigning-for-jeb-bush\" target=\"_blank\">in his experience<\/a>, &#8220;the strongest person usually isn&#8217;t the loudest one in the room.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And Bush 41&#8217;s silence tells its own story.<\/p>\n<p>In 1996, Bush stood by Bob Dole, a longtime political rival, to offer Dole\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/articles.latimes.com\/1996-07-27\/news\/mn-28418_1_bob-dole\" target=\"_blank\">a hearty endorsement<\/a>\u00a0in his campaign against President Bill Clinton.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll do anything Sen. Dole wants me to do \u2014\u00a0I\u2019ll campaign for him,\u201d Bush said. \u201cMy heart lies at this level, the Dole level.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bush 41 also campaigned for his son, George W. Bush, in 2000 and 2004.<\/p>\n<p>In 2008, both Bushes came forward to support eventual Republican nominee U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, well before McCain formally clinched the nomination.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs someone who helped lead our great party at the RNC and later as president, I believe now is the right time for me to help John in his effort to start building the broad-based coalition it\u2019ll take for our values to carry the White House this fall,\u201d Bush 41\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2008\/02\/18\/AR2008021800930.html\" target=\"_blank\">told reporters in February 2008<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Bush 43\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2008\/03\/05\/us\/politics\/05cnd-repubs.html\" target=\"_blank\">also volunteered his services<\/a>, saying of McCain, &#8220;If he wants my pretty face standing by his side at one of these rallies, I&#8217;ll be glad to show up.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And in 2012, at age 87, the elder Bush came out swinging once again for Mitt Romney\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mJNI1qw0l04\" target=\"_blank\">in a glowing interview on CNN<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBarbara and I are very proud to fully and enthusiastically endorse and support our old friend Mitt Romney,\u201d Bush 41 said. \u201cHe\u2019s a good man, he\u2019ll make a great president, and we just wish him well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m for Mitt Romney,&#8221; Bush 43\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/george-w-bush-endorses-mitt-romney\/2012\/05\/15\/gIQAZXLMSU_story.html\" target=\"_blank\">added later<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Representatives from the Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the first time since his own presidency, George H.W. Bush is planning to stay silent in the race for the Oval Office \u2014 and the younger former president Bush plans to stay silent as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":149030,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[708,3307,226,116],"class_list":["post-149023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2016-election","tag-donald-trump","tag-presidential-race","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}