The campaign manager for Donald Trump referred to George H.W. Bush as a “92-year-old former president” and said she respected his right to vote for whomever he chooses. Speaking to CNN’s Erin Burnett Tuesday night, Kellyanne Conway, who last month took over as Trump’s campaign manager, responded to reports that Bush—a former Republican National Committee chair, two-term vice president, one-term president, father of the most recent Republican president, and lifelong Republican—will be voting for Democrat Hillary Clinton.
“I respect the 92-year-old former president very much in his decision, and I think that Americans are very grateful to the Bush family for their public service,” said Conway. “It is ironic that he would vote for the wife of the man who knocked him out of the [presidency.]” The Republican adviser was referring to the fact that Clinton’s husband Bill Clinton defeated Bush in the 1992 presidential election.
Conway then suggested Bush’s decision not to vote for the Republican nominee this year had to do with Trump defeating his son, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, in the GOP primary. “This was a bruising primary, and Jeb Bush failed all expectations that he would be the electable, the predominant person on the stage,” she said. “I know there are a lot of hurt feelings there. That is his right.”
Bush is the only living Republican presidential nominee to say publicly he is voting for Clinton. His son George W. Bush, who served two terms as president and was the last Republican to serve as commander in chief, has remained silent about who he will support. Mitt Romney, who was the 2012 GOP nominee, has been highly critical of Trump but has also not said who he will vote for. The 2008 nominee, Arizona senator John McCain, has endorsed Trump, as has the 1996 nominee, former Kansas senator Bob Dole.
All three living Democratic presidents—Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama—have endorsed their party’s nominee, Hillary Clinton. So have the other living Democratic nominees: John Kerry, Al Gore, and Michael Dukakis.
