The demise of the Republican establishment is near, declared former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal after Donald Trump’s string of primary victories Tuesday edging him closer to the party’s nomination.
“The GOP establishment is done for, and I think this race shows that,” Jindal said on MSNBC Wednesday. Doubling down on comments made in September of 2015, in which he said Trump is “a carnival act” that “doesn’t know anything about policy,” Jindal said he still doesn’t think Trump is a conservative.
Jindal, who ended his own campaign for the presidency in November, said Trump’s appeal to Middle Class voters stems from their “anxiety” suffered during Obama’s presidency. Trump, he said, has tapped into that anxiety.
But, Jindal warned that Trump lacks the “hallmarks” of conservatism, including platforms for entitlement reform, getting rid of Obamacare and standing with Israel, the last of which has brought Trump backlash from critics when he said he has a “neutral” stance on the Israeli-Palestine conflict.
Despite all this, Jindal blamed the GOP establishment for conspiring against Trump.
“I think this idea of ignoring the will of the party — the party leaders go behind closed doors and come up with a new — it makes for a great fiction novel, but it’s exactly what’s wrong with the GOP establishment. It ignores what voters are telling them,” Jindal said. “If this wasn’t Donald Trump, if this were any other candidate, we wouldn’t be talking about this.”
“You hear too many party leaders wanting to dismiss voters. This talk of a contested convention, a third-party candidate, of drafting somebody anew. That’s ridiculous,” Jindal added. “When huge chunks of your party’s base are telling you something, you’ve got to listen to them.”
Jindal endorsed Marco Rubio, who despite only being a one-term senator, was labeled by many as an establishment candidate. Rubio ended his campaign Tuesday after he lost his home state of Florida to Trump.
When asked if he would endorse another candidate, Jindal declined.
“I’m not going to endorse now, I’m going to defer to the will of the voters,” Jindal said.
While he said he hopes the nominee is not Trump, Jindal did not rule out supporting the businessman-turned-candidate.
“I’m going to support the Republican nominee,” he said, explaining that Trump would be preferable to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
