Former President George W. Bush has confirmed that he will not endorse any candidate in the 2024 presidential election, a decision that underscores the continuing divide between Trump’s America First movement and the neoconservative establishment. Bush, whose administration is remembered for the Iraq War, has avoided supporting President Donald Trump, whose foreign policy was marked by a lack of new military conflicts.
In a statement to NBC News, Bush’s office made it clear that neither he nor his wife, Laura, would endorse a candidate or reveal how they would vote. This is consistent with Bush’s previous actions in the 2016 and 2020 elections, where he refrained from endorsing Trump and instead wrote in Condoleezza Rice in 2020.
The divide between neoconservatives and Trump’s supporters remains strong, with Bush representing the interventionist foreign policy approach that led to the Iraq War. Trump, in contrast, has gained praise from conservatives for avoiding new wars and focusing on domestic issues.
Bush’s decision comes shortly after former Vice President Dick Cheney announced he would vote for Vice President Kamala Harris. Cheney, a key architect of the Iraq War, attacked Trump, calling him a threat to the republic. Trump responded by calling Cheney an “irrelevant RINO,” highlighting the ongoing ideological clash within the GOP.
The refusal of neoconservatives like Bush and Cheney to support Trump reflects a broader struggle within the Republican Party over the future direction of U.S. foreign policy.
