Washington – Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush’s campaign has looked into whether it is possible to withdraw a pledge to support the eventual nominee if it is Donald Trump, a senior Bush aide said on Thursday, in a sign of the deep enmity between the two.
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The development came to light after Bush and Trump engaged in bitter exchanges at the last Republican debate of the year on Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
Last week in New Hampshire, Bush insisted he would not need to withdraw his support for the nominee because he did not believe Trump would win the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
Behind the scenes, top aides have looked into whether Bush would still qualify to be on the ballots in all 50 states because some states require a loyalty pledge in order to be on the ballot.
A driving factor behind the move was Trump’s proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, a step that Bush denounced to Trump’s face at the debate.
“We received lots of questions following Donald Trump’s most recent unhinged proposal so our campaign did due diligence looking into the rules surrounding the pledge,” said a senior Bush aide who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Still, Bush has not moved to declare he would not support Trump if he wins the nomination fight.
“Governor Bush made explicitly clear on Tuesday his view that Donald Trump would be a chaos president who would be wrong for the country. Voters know where he stands. His focus is on defeating him in the primary,” the aide said.
Trump has said he does not want Bush’s endorsement.
Trump, the front-runner in national polls of Republican voters and leading in some of the early voting states, has taunted Bush all year.
Bush fought back with gusto at the debate, and the well-funded Super PAC that supports him, Right To Rise, released a television ad on Thursday that described the former Florida governor as “the one candidate tough enough to take on the bully.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqpK4NVuIV4&feature=youtu.be)
It is to air in Iowa, which holds the first nominating contest of the 2016 election on Feb. 1, as well as the two next states to hold contests, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
Go away Bush you don’t stand a chance
Bush should hide himself away and go crawling back under the rock he came out of.Luckily he will never be president,as he clearly is not capable.
bush take your 3 percent and shove it
When Bush was Governor of Florida, he never visited the heavily Jewish areas of Boca Raton, and other communities in southern Florida. Two Bushes in the White House have been enough! I couldn’t stand the first Bush (#41 ). While he was President, one of his key advisors, by the name of James Baker, cursed the Jews on more than one occasion, claiming that they didn’t vote for Bush. Baker has never denied making those remarks to this date, nor did George Herbert Walker Bush ever reprimand him. In 1991, Bush #41 stated “I’m just one little guy against all of THOSE LOBBYISTS (meaning AIPAC). His son, #43 , got us into a war in Iraq, which we had no business in. As a result of the war in Iraq, instability in that area resulted, as well as the creation of ISIS, with our own equipment! Even #41 warned #43 , to stay out of Iraq. Bush #43 as well as Cheney, and Rumsfeld were largely responsible for the mess in Iraq. To this day, Jeb Bush won’t condemn the war in Iraq. He is a spoiled brat, who is merely spinning wheels at this point. He should do us all a favor, and drop out of the race!!