Jeb Bush: Donald Trump’s ‘Going-Alone-Ism’ Is ‘Really Dangerous’
In a new interview with CNN’s David Axelrod, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush criticized President Donald Trump’s foreign policy, The Hill reports.
According to Bush, who challenged Trump in the 2016 Republican primary, the president’s “unilateralism” and “going-alone-ism” on foreign policy issues is “really dangerous.”
“We haven’t had a major crisis to deal with, but this unilateralism or going-alone-ism I think is really dangerous,” he said.
President Trump’s “unilateralism” and “going-alone-ism” have, according to Jeb Bush, made allies distrust the United States while empowering enemies. Trump’s foreign policy, the former Florida Governor pointed out, “defies” what used to be a bipartisan consensus in the country.
“Our friends no longer believe they can trust the United States and our enemies, in many cases, feel emboldened by this approach. I think it defies the…bipartisan kind of consensus on foreign policy that has by-and-large kept America safe.”
According to Politico, Bush also suggested in his interview with David Axelrod that it would be good for the conservative movement if a Republican challenged Trump in 2020. Acknowledging that it is difficult to beat a sitting president, Bush opined that someone needs to challenge Trump in 2020 in order to start a national conversation about “what it is to be a conservative.”
As The Hill notes, Republicans Larry Hogan and John Kasich have reportedly mulled challenging Trump in 2020, but neither of the two has officially launched a bid for the White House.
According to Jeb Bush, not all of President Trump’s policies have been bad for the country. Bush, in fact, praised Trump’s tax cuts and judicial nominations.
“You can honestly say he’s done good things in terms of policy and applaud them,” Bush said, but then proceeded to criticize the president for failing to deliver on what he described as “kingly duties.”
“I think the symbolic, you know the kingly duties of the presidency, that’s where he falls short, and it’s important,” the former Republican governor said.
Jeb Bush says a Republican should run against Trump in 2020 https://t.co/ereG1eJ3Um
— POLITICO (@politico) March 16, 2019
Trump and Bush have previously exchanged blows, notably during the 2015 Republican primary.
As Vox reported, then-candidate Trump coined a special nickname for Bush, marking him as “Low Energy Jeb.” Trump also criticized the former Florida governor’s brother and U.S. President George W. Bush for allowing the September 11 terrorist attacks to happen under his watch.
During the Republican primary, Bush described Trump as a “chaos candidate,” predicting that he would become a “chaos president” if he manages to win, according to ABC News. Trump, on the other hand, frequently insulted Jeb Bush and dismissed his comments.
Following Trump’s victory in the Republican primary, Bush published a lengthy Facebook post congratulating his opponent but noting that, in his opinion, neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton has what it takes to lead the United States.
