The 41st Republican ex-president George H. W. Bush sen. will vote for democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, according to Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, JFK’s niece.
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In an unprecedented and stunning move across party lines, the former Republican president has indicated he will vote for Hillary Clinton in the upcoming election.
- If he does so, he will join several other prominent Republicans who have vowed to cross party lines in 2016 out of utter disdain for Trump.
- Bush will be the first president of one party to vote for the candidate of another. This is a sign as to how much the GOP has changed with trump as the nominee, and a sign of deep division within the party.
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, daughter of Robert Kennedy and the former lieutenant governor of Maryland, met with the 41st President in Maine and posted this picture to Facebook, with the illuminating caption:
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It makes sense he would vote for Clinton
Trump has been famously merciless when it comes to the Bush family, and has never taken any of his comments back, unlike with other bruised gun fodder like Marco Rubio. The Bush and the Clinton families have grown close since the 1992 election where Bill Clinton defeated George HW Bush. Bush’s overall demeanor and attitude of moderate conservatism and a sober approach to the world is much more aligned to Clinton’s approach, rather than Trump’s bombastic style.
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It’s not just the former President
The abridged list of notable Republicans who are either voting against trump, or abstaining, include:
- George W. Bush, former Republican President
- Jeb Bush, former Florida governor and 2016 presidential candidate
- Mitt Romney, 2012 Republican Party nominee
- Ted Cruz, Texas senator
- Susan Collins, Maine senator
- Lindsay Graham, South Carolina senator
- Ben Sasse, Nebraska senator
- Mark Kirk, Illinois senator
- Jeff Flake, Arizona senator
- Dean Heller, Nevada senator
- John Kasich, Ohio governor
- Charlie Backer, Massachusetts governor
- Rich Snyder, Michigan governor
- Larry Hogan, Maryland governor
- Condoleeza Rice, former secretary of state
- Hank Paulson, former treasury secretary
- Michael Chertoff, former secretary of homeland security
- Fred Upton, Michigan congressman
- Bob Dold, Illinois congressman
- Scott Rigell, Virginia congressman
- Reid Ribble, Wisconsin congressman
- Michael Heyden, former head of CIA and NSA
This recent revelation may be in disguise a sign for Clinton supports to worry, however. The last two weeks have seen her popularity hit a trough, while Trump’s is hitting a peak.