On Tuesday, Politico reported that former President George H.W. Bush would vote for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. The Bush family has shunned Trump since the primaries and drawn close to the Clintons since George H.W. Bush’s exit from office in 1992. Still, the news was somewhat shocking, given both the Bush family’s continued prominence in Republican politics – George P. Bush is currently Texas land commissioner and has his eye on higher office.
But the H.W. Bush apparent decision, reported by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, should come as no surprise. The Bush family isn’t put off so much by Trump’s policy proposals – except for immigration and free trade, the Bush family likely agrees with much of Trump’s left-leaning policy. They’re mostly put off by Trump’s attitude – his boorishness, his ignorance, his general sense of know-nothingism. To be fair, Trump clubbed Jeb! like a baby seal and the Bush family specifically during the debates; that had to draw some ire from the family. But for George H.W. Bush, the deciding factor was likely attitudinal: Trump just doesn’t belong. The Clintons, by dint of two decades in the White House spotlight, do.
