Jeb Bush spoke out against Donald Trump today, and in the process, he pretty much spilled the beans on the entire Republican Party.
Here's some of what he said on MSNBC:
"People are going to be deeply frustrated and the divides will grow in our country," Bush said. "And this extraordinary country, still the greatest country on the face of the earth, will continue to stagger instead of soar."
He continued: "And that's the heartbreaking part of this, is I think people are really going to feel betrayed."
Bush took issue with Trump's proposed border wall and ban on Muslims entering the United States.
"There isn't going to be a wall built," Bush told MSNBC. "And Mexico's not going to pay for it. And there's not going to be a ban on Muslims. None of that is — this is all like a, alternative universe that he created. The reality is, that's not going to happen."
Bush also accused Trump of manipulating the media to his advantage.
"Trump, you know, to his credit was very smart at exploiting these kind of opportunities," Bush said. "He's a master at understanding how the media works — more than anybody I've seen in politics. Kudos to him for, you know, kind of creating the environment and then manipulating the environment to his effect."
Republicans have never before proposed a ban on Muslims entering the country (although they certainly demonize them and use them to gin up fear to their political advantage), but everything else Bush is saying here is indicative of the Republican Party since Ronald Reagan introduced the fairy dust of trickle down economics.
Listen to what Bush says here and you hear the GOP guidelines for snowing the electorate over the past few decades. It's what Republican politicians do.
They work hard to create divides.
They make promises they never deliver, betraying voters over and over again.
They create and falsely craft an alternative universe, like the one where President Obama is the "worst president ever," where there's nothing but scorched earth left behind in America, despite evidence to the contrary everywhere you look.
They become masters at exploiting the media, by demonizing it as the "liberal media" in order to shame it into doing their bidding.
These are the reasons why Donald Trump is the epitome of the modern day GOP candidate. The Republicans can try and run away from him all they want, but, as they said famously during the 2012 election: "You built that."
Trump was years in the making as the GOP crafted fear and hate based voters, an effort that began long before the Koch brothers brought the Tea Party into the mix. Election year after election year, Republican voters are promised pie in the sky policies that go against their self interests, and every time a Republican wins office, those same voters are disappointed with the results, yet they're told by Republicans "don't blame us, blame the other party!"
Now Jeb Bush is doing the same thing with Trump. He's saying voters will be disappointed when Trump does't come through for them.
Well, spoiler alert: Neither Jeb Bush, nor any of the other GOP candidates on the clown bus who tried to take Trump out in 2016 would have come through for those voters either. They all tried to sell the same old snake oil. Rinse. Repeat.
The GOP only comes through for the richest 1 percent among them. It always has and it always will.
Thanks for clearing that up, Jeb.
As you might say, "Please clap."