Bill Clinton Defends George W. Bush Not Weighing in on Trump vs. Harris: He’s Spoken Up ‘More Than He’s Gotten Credit for’
Former President Bill Clinton came to the defense of his Republican successor, George W. Bush, for not publicly taking a side in the 2024 presidential election. But Clinton said that the 43rd president’s stance on immigration tells him all he needs to know about Bush’s choice.
“First of all, he’s spoken up, I think, more than he’s gotten credit for, and he takes every opportunity that I’ve seen to talk about how important immigration is and how we can’t survive without it,” Clinton told CNN Senior Reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere.
Former President Donald Trump has threatened “mass deportations” and other draconian measures for immigrants if he’s re-elected. He recently referred to the United States as a “garbage can” due to the massive amounts of immigrants coming over the southern border.
Bush’s office said in September that he would not be making an endorsement in the 2024 race, after his former Vice President Dick Cheney came out in favor of Kamala Harris. Both Cheney and his daughter, former congresswoman Liz Cheney, have long had bad blood with Trump, a fellow Republican.
Bush is the only living president who hasn’t thrown his support behind a 2024 presidential candidate. Former Democratic presidents Jimmy Carter, who just turned 100, and Barack Obama have both predictably backed Harris.
Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have also been vocal Harris supporters, even campaigning for her in all-important swing states.
In 2020, Bush declined to endorse Trump, and his office said he didn’t vote for Trump in 2016, even though he did call to congratulate Trump on his victory over Hillary Clinton.
Dovere wrote, “Bush really did want to get out of politics, Clinton said, before dropping in passing that ‘he likes Colin Allred,’ who happens to be Bush’s local congressman in Texas and is trying for a potentially Democratic majority-preserving upset Tuesday against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. Clinton said Bush told him that directly: ‘Oh, yeah. He’ll tell anybody that, that he’s a good guy.’”
Read the full article on Clinton and Bush via CNN.
