Political Wire

Inside the Trump-Bush Feud

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Washington Post: “The 2016 campaign is merely the latest manifestation of decades of discord between Trump and the Bush family. Since the gilded 1980s, when Trump and George H.W. Bush rose as forces in their respective spheres, the relationship between Trump and the Bushes has been a melodrama — veering between displays of public affection and acerbic insults.”

“At the core, there are clashes of style, manner and class between the Bushes — a patrician clan of presidents, governors and financiers who have pulled the levers of power for generations — and Trump, a hustling New York City deal-maker who turned his father’s outer borough real-estate portfolio into a gold-plated empire.”

Bush Enlists Brother for NYC Fundraiser

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Former President George W. Bush “is set to headline a luncheon fundraiser for the Jeb Bush presidential campaign in New York on Sept. 10, according to several people familiar with the event, part of an expanding role he is playing to help raise money for his younger brother’s White House bid,” the Washington Post reports.

“The New York luncheon was originally set to take place on Sept. 8 but had to be rescheduled for Sept. 10, putting the former president in the city the day before the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.”

Why Bush Is Making a Mistake Attacking Trump

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David Frum says Jeb Bush’s decision to attack Donald Trump “may be unavoidable, a necessary error to avert the even-worse calamity of having his fundraisers go on strike. Yet attack-Trump remains an error all the same for Jeb Bush—and for two big reasons.”

“First, Trump certainly hurts Bush, but he hurts other candidates more. Bush’s most immediate problem is not that the base doesn’t trust him—it didn’t trust John McCain either, yet he nevertheless won the nomination—but that his donors enjoy too many plausible alternative choices… The second reason Bush shouldn’t fight Trump: Even if Bush wins, he’ll lose… Trump is not playing by the usual rules. Show Trump a line, and he’ll cross it. He has crossed it. And Jeb Bush is a candidate who needs lines respected almost more than any other.”

Bush Takes Steps to Rein in Spending

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Jeb Bush’s “campaign has asked various divisions to be mindful of their spending… Campaign officials asked workers to tighten their belts a few weeks ago… In some cases, staff members’ paychecks shrank,” the New York Times reports.

“The cuts were not a result of fundraising shortfalls… but were intended to correct needless spending before the campaign gets into the heat of the election season.”

Jeb Bush Starts Hitting Back

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New York Times: “The change in Mr. Bush’s tone is a calculated strategy, interviews show, with two different but crucial aims now that Mr. Trump is proving to be a long-term obstacle, not a passing nuisance: to dilute Mr. Trump’s right-wing support by proving that he is not a genuine conservative and to show a wary Republican Party that Mr. Bush is enough of a street fighter to survive a nasty nomination contest.”

“The new approach, which began with Mr. Bush’s remarks last week in New Hampshire and then on Monday, may soon expand, drawing in surrogates who can broaden the critique beyond Mr. Trump’s policies — much the way that Mitt Romney sought to undermine rivals like Newt Gingrich in 2012, said people familiar with the discussions, who insisted on anonymity to discuss plans that were not set in stone.”

Bush Opposes Data Encryption

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Jeb Bush said that “encryption makes it harder for law enforcement to track down ‘evildoers’ — and called for a ‘much better, more cooperative relationship’ with Apple, Google, and other tech companies that are building uncrackable private communication apps into their new products,” First Look reports.

Said Bush: “If you create encryption, it makes it harder for the American government to do its job — while protecting civil liberties — to make sure that evildoers aren’t in our midst.”

Jeb Bush Plans Family Fundraiser

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“Jeb Bush,  is hosting another campaign donor retreat in late October — his parents, former president George H.W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush, once again promise to be headliners at the ‘Jeb Celebration’ to be held in Houston, and another notable Bush will be in attendance as well: his older brother, former president George W. Bush,” the Washington Post reports.

“The event is billed as an end-of-quarter meeting of top fundraisers who help bundle at least $50,000 for Bush’s campaign by the end of September. Jeb Bush’s sons, Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush and Jeb Bush Jr., also plan to attend. Both sons are actively campaigning for their father and raising money among younger Republican donors.”

Trump Upstages Bush in New Hampshire

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“For Donald Trump, it wasn’t enough to upstage Jeb Bush by booking a town hall meeting at the same time as the former Florida governor. Trump had to attack him, too,” Politico reports.

Said Trump: “Right down the road, we have Jeb — very small crowd. You know what’s happening to Jeb’s crowd right down the street? They’re sleeping now.”

New York Times: “In an apt sign of the enthusiasm imbalance, Fox News at one point cut away from Mr. Bush, midsentence, to focus on an empty lectern awaiting Mr. Trump.”

Bush Squeezed in New Hampshire

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Washington Post: “The dynamic here reflects the extent of the broader tumult that has gripped the Republican race nationally, with 17 candidates vying for overlapping factions of the party. At the moment, the campaign is dominated by Trump and other political neophytes drawing enthusiastic crowds and preaching an anti-establishment message, although party strategists anticipate attention will shift to more traditional candidates eventually.”

“But for now, at least, Bush faces a squeeze. Ohio Gov. John Kasich is moving swiftly to take advantage of the former Florida governor’s difficulties and make inroads with the kind of mainstream voters who otherwise would migrate to Bush.”

Bush Is the Easiest for Clinton to Beat

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Matt Latimer: “Regardless of whether Clinton survives her primary battle with an ever growing list of potential foes, Republicans ought to think hard about the reasons why Bush might be the easiest of the serious GOP contenders for the Clintons to beat. And it’s not just because they’ve done it before.”

“Think the Clintons have political baggage? Well, so do the Bushes. And Jeb is being crushed under the weight of it. So far, Bush evokes as much allure among the Republican rank-and-file as a Dixie Chicks concert on Earth Day. There’s a reason almost no one has commented on Jeb Bush’s performance in the first GOP debate. He wasn’t terrible. He wasn’t great. He was just, well, there. Mediocrity is apparently the plan.”

“Even if GOP elites are right—that Donald Trump isn’t ready for the big stage—they better make sure their chosen understudy isn’t going to fare far worse.”

Why Jeb Bush Has Trouble Distinguishing Himself

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Jeb Bush said he “faces a unique challenge in distinguishing himself from the administrations of his father and brother,” the Huffington Post reports.

Said Bush: “The parlor game that’s played where you know you have 35 or 40 people that are helping you with foreign policy and if they have any executive experience, they’ve had to do with two Republican administrations. Who were the people who were presidents — the last two Republicans? I mean, this is kind of a tough game for me to be playing to be honest with you.”

Bush Super PAC Plans Early Ad Blitz

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The powerfully funded super PAC backing Jeb Bush “will spend at least $10 million on television time in the earliest voting presidential primary states, the first salvo in a massive TV ad campaign to support the former Florida governor’s bid for the Republican nomination,” the AP reports.

“Officials with Right to Rise USA say they will buy time in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina TV markets and on cable television in the three states. Ads are scheduled to begin in Iowa and New Hampshire on Sept. 15, in South Carolina a week later and then run continuously through the end of the year.”

Bush Can’t Move Away from Brother’s Foreign Policy

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Washington Post: “This was supposed to be the week when Bush would finally lay out his own thoughts on how to combat the Islamic State terror group and put Hillary Clinton on the defensive — and wrest himself away from his family legacy in the process. But over several days, it has become evident that his ideas on the subject are remarkably similar to George W. Bush’s ideas and that he firmly believes Democrats — not his brother — now deserve the blame for the unrest in Iraq and neighboring Syria.”

“Most Americans still believe the Iraq war was a mistake and are opposed to new military engagement — making Bush’s approach to national security risky. But polling suggests that his positions are popular among most Republicans, especially if it means raising doubts about Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state.”

Jeb Bush Provided Distorted Version of Iraq History

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Jeb Bush, in his speech this week that was billed as a major foreign policy address, “provided a distorted version of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq and an incorrect account of the origins of the Islamic State,” according to McClatchy.

“Bush vowed that if elected he would expand U.S. military intervention in the Middle East significantly. His version of events, however, seemed intended to absolve his brother, President George W. Bush, of blame in destabilizing the region while trying to pin the region’s current bloodshed on President Obama and his former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton.”

“Bush’s account of the withdrawal as a ‘case of blind haste’ omitted the fact that it was his brother who’d set the withdrawal date of Dec. 31, 2011, in an agreement that he signed with the Iraqi government in 2008. He also neglected to note that the Iraqi government strongly opposed the continued presence of U.S. forces.”

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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