Jeb Bush clearly doesn’t see eye-to-eye with front runner Donald Trump. But a new report that Bush may back out from his loyalty pledge should Trump win the nomination could spell the end of his candidacy altogether.
According to Reuters , Bush’s aides checked into the notion of what would happen to Jeb should he rescind his pledge to support the Donald if he were the Republican candidate.
“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.”
The article also indicated it was Trump’s racially insensitive remarks to deport all Muslims from the country that is behind this investigation into reneging Bush’s pledge. According to the political blog Hot Air , if Jeb were to go through with it, it would all but spell the end to his already flagging candidacy.
“If Jeb now declared that he could no longer in good conscience keep that pledge with respect to Trump, which would be a nutty thing to do for all sorts of reasons, he’d be effectively disqualified in a bunch of states and his candidacy would be completely dead instead of mostly dead as it is now.”
Jeb Bush isn’t the first Republican candidates to take issue with Trump’s bombastic personality and campaign. But he has been the only one seemingly to stand up to the Donald, even promoting himself as the alternative to the “bully” candidate who currently holds the lead in the polls according to FOX News .
During the Republican debates earlier this week, Jeb took Donald to task on several statements he’s made along the campaign, including the now-famous ban on all Muslims sound byte following the Paris attacks.
“It’s not a serious proposal,” Bush said during the debates. “It will push the Arab world away when we need them to engage.”
Jeb then went on to further insult Trump’s campaign calling him a “chaos candidate” who’s good at one-liners. Trump went on the offensive much of the night, but directed his aim toward the hosts, accusing them of goading Bush into directly addressing him to help bump ratings. Jeb then redirected that comment back to Trump, accusing him of not being tough enough for the job.
“Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you’re not being treated fairly, imagine what it’s going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi, or dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists,” Bush interjected. “This is a tough business, to run for president…. You’re never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency.”
This then resulted in a post-debate Twittertirade from Donald, lashing out against Jeb. Donald even went so far as to call Bush an “embarrassment” and “dumb as a rock” in one of his many verbally abusive Tweets.
I have an idea for @JebBush whose campaign is a disaster. Try using your last name & don’t be ashamed of it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 18, 2015
. @JebBush has embarrassed himself & his family with his incompetent campaign for President. He should remain true to himself.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 18, 2015
The last thing our country needs is another BUSH! Dumb as a rock!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 18, 2015
Bush’s team responded right back telling CNN’s John Berman that Trump is lashing out because he lost the debate. Jeb’s communications director Tim Miller also took to task Donald getting an approval from Russia’s own Vladimir Putin.
Whether or not this new strategy of calling himself the anti-Donald Trump candidate will turn thigns around remains to be seen. It certainly can’t hurt Jeb Bush’s candidacy to this point.
