Former Governor Jeb Bush has endorsed Senator Ted Cruz for President in a Facebook post. Bush dropped out of the presidential race following a disappointing finish in the South Carolina primary.
“Ted is a consistent, principled conservative who has demonstrated the ability to appeal to voters and win primary contests, including yesterday’s Utah caucus,” he wrote on Facebook. The last element, regarding primaries, may be a subtle jab at Governor John Kasich who remains in the race after only wining his home state of Ohio. While Kasich is the closest to Bush ideologically, Cruz is the best chance statistically to defeat Donald Trump. Kasich’s campaign is depending on a brokered convention in order to seize the nomination.
Bush’s endorsement comes as the Republican establishment, albeit reluctantly in many cases, is beginning to coalesce around Cruz in a last-ditch effort to defeat Trump. Former Governor Mitt Romney said he would caucus for Cruz in Utah and said in a robocall to voters that any vote for Kasich in the future is equivalent to a vote for Trump. Many of the establishment figures who had endorsed Senator Marco Rubio have endorsed Cruz.
It is yet another example of how politics makes strange bedfellows as Cruz regularly bashes the establishment on the campaign trail and often makes reference to the “Washington cartel.”
Bush said that it was important to back a candidate who would be able to defeat Trump. Trump attacked Bush early on, deeming him “low energy” and the attacks stuck. Bush sank in the polls and Trump became the dominant frontrunner. Bush continued to attack Trump and said that his behavior was not befitting of the office the two were seeking.
Trump responded to the endorsement on Twitter:
Low energy Jeb Bush just endorsed a man he truly hates, Lyin’ Ted Cruz. Honestly, I can’t blame Jeb in that I drove him into oblivion!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2016
Trump then put on his pundit hat and made a prediction of the impact while noting a major failure of the Bush operation:
I think having Jeb’s endorsement hurts Lyin’ Ted. Jeb spent more than $150,000,000 and got nothing. I spent a fraction of that and am first!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2016