Where Have All the Blue Dogs Gone?
Dick Cheney is backing Kamala Harris; Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is backing Donald Trump. Why?
“The Bush-Cheney dynasty isn’t backing Trump,” David Jackson marveled for USA Today on September 8. “There’s a time that would have been unthinkable.”
“Former President Donald Trump’s bid to regain power is generating all kinds of odd situations, including stalwart opposition from party leaders and members of the Republican political establishment such as Cheney, former Rep. Liz Cheney, and 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney,” Jackson began. “The Cheneys have gone so far as to say they will vote for Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.”
“Speaking of dynasties, former President George W. Bush does not plan to endorse his party’s standard bearer this year, and he won’t say how he or former First Lady Laura Bush will vote in November, a spokesperson confirmed over the weekend,” added Jackson smugly. “It’s a dynamic that would have been unthinkable even 10 years ago: The GOP’s most recent president and presidential nominee who came before the party’s current pick won’t publicly back him.”
And while Mr. Jackson somewhat glaringly failed to mention it for USA Today, the high-profile defection of another political dynasty is another surprising development.