Former President George W. Bush hasn’t been in the White House for years, but that’s not stopping him from making some big news ahead of the upcoming presidential election.
In fact, Bush is diving straight into the teeth of the matchup between President Donald Trump and Former Vice President Joe Biden.
But it’s a move nobody in the Republican Party quite expected.
In a story reported by Newsmax, the former president WON’T support President Trump’s re-election bid this fall.
We repeat… WON’T.
Initially reported in The New York Times, other prominent GOP officials are considering a vote for Joe Biden — including Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah and Cindy McCain, the widow of Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
Former Republican leaders like former Speakers Paul Ryan and John Boehner won’t say how they’ll vote.
This comes on the heels of two, high-profile criticisms of President Trump from former Republican leaders.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell announced on Sunday that he will vote for Joe Biden, telling CNN that Mr. Trump “lies about things” and Republicans in Congress won’t hold him accountable.
Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis also harshly criticized Trump last week, saying he was a ‘threat to the Constitution.’
It should be noted that many of this high-profile Republicans did NOT vote for Trump in 2016.
According to the Times report, Trump won the election in 2016 in spite of a parade of Republicans and retired military officers who refused to support him. Far more current GOP elected officials are publicly backing Trump than did four years ago. Among his unwavering supporters are Republican leaders like Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, and past foes like Senators Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham. And polls today indicate that rank-and-file Republicans are squarely behind the president.
The noise amongst Republicans not supporting Trump has prompted Joe Biden’s team to roll out his “Republicans for Biden” coalition later in the campaign.
We’ll continue to keep an eye out for big names within the Republican Party that won’t support Trump.