OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
As the 2024 Republican primaries draw nearer, it seems likely that former GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush will face off against former President Donald Trump, albeit in a different way than expected.
While Trump has declared that the modern GOP is distinct from its identity a decade ago, Bush is aligning himself with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is emerging as a potentially strong contender against Trump.
During his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the former president boldly declared that the Republican Party will never return to its previous incarnation as the party of figures like Paul Ryan, Karl Rove, and Jeb Bush, according to Breitbart News.
“We had a Republican Party that was ruled by freaks, neocons, globalists, open border zealots, and fools, but we are never going back to the party of Paul Ryan, Karl Rove, and Jeb Bush!” Trump declared.
WATCH:
President Trump: "We had a Republican Party that was ruled by freaks, neocons, globalists, open border zealots, and fools, but we are never going back to the party of Paul Ryan, Karl Rove, and Jeb Bush!" pic.twitter.com/qP59PZw8vN
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) March 4, 2023
Bush, a former Florida governor, appeared to throw his support to current Sunshine State Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“There are people in public life that are kind of check-the-box politicians, and then there are others they want to serve, and Governor DeSantis is one of those,” Bush said during a Fox Nation special on DeSantis.
Bush reminisced about his father, former vice president and President George H.W. Bush, as well as DeSantis, highlighting their shared experience as captains of the Yale baseball team. Interviewer Brian Kilmeade also asked Bush about DeSantis, who has expressed admiration for Bush Sr., saying he approved of the way the GOP governor handled criticisms during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“They were trying to set him up, and he knew it. And he punched him in the nose,” Bush said, praising DeSantis’s overall response to several crises in the state during his time as governor.
DeSantis has yet to officially declare his candidacy for the GOP nomination, though many expect him to do so, including Bush.
“I think it is,” Bush said when Kilmeade asked if he believes it is time for DeSantis to seek higher office. “He’s been a really effective governor. He’s young. I think we’re on the verge of a generational change in our politics– I kind of hope so. I think it’s time for a more forward-leaning future-oriented conversation or politics as well.”
Jeb Bush’s full endorsement of Ron DeSantis pic.twitter.com/bPCrw53taU
— ProfessorMaxwell (@Professor__Max) February 25, 2023
During his CPAC speech, the 45th president listed several groups that he aims to target during a second term, labeling them as “villains and scoundrels.” They include globalists, communists, and the mainstream media, which he refers to as the “fake news.”
He said:
With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state. We will expel the warmongers. They are people that don’t get it, although in some cases they get it, they get it for their wallets, but we can’t do that. We can’t let that happen. We will drive out the globalists, we will cast out the communists. We will throw off the political class that hates our country. They actually hate our country.
No walls, no borders. Bad elections, no voter ID. We will beat the Democrats. We will route the fake news media, we will expose and appropriately deal with the RINOs. We will evict Joe Biden from the White House, and we will liberate America from these villains and scoundrels once and for all.
He went on to talk about how he has helped to transform the GOP since he jumped into the party in 2015 to begin his run for the presidency:
When we started this journey, a journey like there has never been before, there’s never been anything like this, we had a republican party that was ruled by freaks, Neocons, globalists, open borders, zealots and fools, but we are never going back to the party of Paul Ryan, Karl Rove and Jeb Bush.
He also blasted most politicians, including some Republicans, who seek to “destroy our great social security system.”
“We’re not going back to people that want to destroy our great social security system. Even some in our own party, I wonder who that might be, that want to raise the minimum age of social security to 70, 75, or even 80,” Trump said.
