Vanquished Republican presidential contender Jeb Bush sought in an op-ed Saturday to stake a claim to the party’s future, castigating presumptive nominee Donald Trump and offering proposals to guide the GOP — presumably assuming Trump is defeated by Hillary Clinton.
The article, which is running in the Washington Post, could signal Bush intends to return to the presidential campaign trail should Trump fail to win the Oval Office — or at least that he wants a role creating a post-Trump GOP.
“While he has no doubt tapped into the anxiety so prevalent in the United States today, I do not believe Donald Trump reflects the principles or inclusive legacy of the Republican Party,” Bush wrote. “And I sincerely hope he doesn’t represent its future.”
In an obvious reference to Trump, Bush wrote that “a few in the Republican Party” have responded to President Obama “by trying to out-polarize the president, making us seem anti-immigrant, anti-women, anti-science, anti-gay, anti-worker and anti-common-sense.”
Bush, who has said he cannot support Trump or Hillary Clinton, wrote that he will either support the Libertarian ticket or write in a candidate.
His prescription for the GOP future includes devolving power to the states and pursuing “term limits, a balanced-budget amendment and line-item-veto authority — even if that requires calling a constitutional convention of the states.”
And it includes keeping people like Trump away off of soapboxes.
“Finally, this year has taught us the risks of letting personalities run roughshod over substance and principle,” he wrote. “Let’s reintroduce civility, ideas and optimism back into politics. Let’s find ways to campaign and govern inclusively. Let’s find ways to ease the angst and fear of people, without cynically feeding it.”
