A spokesman for former President George W. Bush called an explosive New York Times article that said the Texas Republican would not be voting for President Trump false and inaccurate, according to a report Monday.
“This is completely made up,” Freddy Ford, a spokesman for Bush, told the Texas Tribune. “He is retired from presidential politics and has not indicated how he will vote.”
The paper pointed out that there appears to be no love lost between the Bush family and Trump. Trump defeated Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, in the 2016 primary and former President George H.W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush said they did not vote from Trump in the general election.
The Times on Saturday—citing “people familiar” with Bush’s thinking, reported that he would not support Trump’s re-election. The report came as divisions within the Republican Party began to emerge.
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Bush issued a statement in light of the protests and said, “The only way to see ourselves in a true light is to listen to the voices of so many people who are hurting and grieving. Those who set out to silence those voices do not understand the meaning of America.”
Some saw the statement as a subtle swipe at Trump over his get-tough approach to the protests outside the White House. Trump has also publicly feuded with governors across the U.S. over their soft approach to the protests that have, at times, led to looting.
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Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, marched in a Black Lives Matter protest in Washington on Sunday said he will not support Trump and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said that she is struggling with her decision.
She came out and supported former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis who criticized Trump over his reaction to the unrest over the death of George Floyd in police custody. Murkowski said what Mattis said was “true, and honest, and necessary, and overdue.”
Trump vowed to campaign against Murkowski after the comment, according to Politico. FiveThirtyEight.com pointed out that Republicans like Romney and Murkowski were far from ever being on the Trump bandwagon.
The website pointed out that despite the Republican critics of Trump becoming more vocal, the party could try and defend Trump by pointing to Joe Biden and say the “Democrats are much worse. This is the prevailing rationalization of our zero-sum politics.”