Who Jeb Bush won't be voting for in the general election
Jeb Bush said Friday that he won't vote for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton in the general election this fall.
"In November, I will not vote for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, but I will support principled conservatives at the state and federal levels, just as I have done my entire life," the former GOP presidential candidate and former Florida governor wrote in a Facebook post.
Bush congratulated Trump on securing his place as the GOP's presumptive nominee, saying that he had tapped into the anger and frustration of the U.S. electorate. Then, he went on to explain why the billionaire wouldn't be getting his vote: Trump, he wrote, has not demonstrated a strong character, respect for the Constitution and hasn't been "a consistent conservative."
"These are all reasons why I cannot support his candidacy," he said, adding, "Hillary Clinton has proven to be an untrustworthy liberal politician who, if elected, would present a third term of the disastrous foreign and economic policy agenda of Barack Obama."
This comes after his brother and father, former Presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush, said this week that they would not endorse Trump for president. Mitt Romney said Thursday he wouldn't be attending the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this July and Speaker Paul Ryan said that he's "not ready" to back Trump.
Throughout the primary campaign, Trump often attacked Bush and they argued about Bush's family legacy like Bush 43's handling of 9/11 and leading the U.S. into war in Iraq. Bush called Trump a "master of manipulation" and he dropped out of the race in February after losing South Carolina's GOP primary.
Lindsey Graham also said Friday that he doesn't plan to vote for Trump or Clinton.
"I just don't think Donald is a reliable conservative Republican and quite frankly, he lost me when he said my friend John McCain was a loser because he was captured as a POW. He lost me when he accused George W. Bush of lying to the American people about the Iraq War, and he thinks Putin's a good guy, so, I just can't go there," the South Carolina senator, who also ran for president, said in an interview with CNN. "I'm just glad we're having the convention in Cleveland, not Area 51. I think Donald Trump has gone to places where very few people have gone, and I'm not going with him."
Trump released a blistering statement Friday afternoon in response to Graham.
"I fully understand why Lindsey Graham cannot support me. If I got beaten as badly as I beat him, and all the other candidates he endorsed, I would not be able to give my support either. Every time I see Lindsey Graham spew hate during interviews I ask why the media never questions how I single handily destroyed his hapless run for president," Trump said.
Bush and Graham both signed a Republican National Committee loyalty pledge, which says that if they didn't win the GOP nomination, "I will endorse the 2016 Republican presidential nominee regardless of who it is."
