In addition to Trump’s remarks, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson got a boost from some conservatives this week when he said that he “absolutely would not agree” with a Muslim becoming president.
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Gale Crawford, a Republican activist and retired banking executive in South Carolina, is part of the vocal party base that says it doesn’t agree with a lot of things the “D.C. mafia” wing of the GOP says. Heavy immigration has muddied American demographics, and the changes appear irreversible due to relatively high birth rates among Hispanics and rising rates of interracial marriage. When George W. Bush ran for re-election as Texas governor in 1998, his campaign executed a targeted campaign to win the state’s Spanish speaking voters.
Bush believes that his candidacy could capture these coveted voting blocs. He has consistently opposed Trump’s plans for a border wall and mass deportations.
Saying the USA economy is “buried under the weight of rule books”, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Tuesday proposed cutting federal regulations that he said would increase growth 3 percent in 10 years and help increase wages by 6 percent. It isn’t just talk.
Latino advocates and immigrant groups disappointed with the sharp language used by Republican candidates on immigration – including Bush – accuse him of dramatically tailoring his message depending on his audience. “How many Asian-Americans does he have working on his campaign?” But we must also recognize that throughout our history, immigrants indeed have assimilated and have strengthened our nation in every imaginable way.
John Ellis Bush is an unlikely champion of unwinding the ethnic and cultural hegemony that produced him.
Trump’s inflammatory comments on illegal immigration have drawn rebukes from some members of the GOP presidential field, but Cruz, swearing off “Republican-on-Republican violence”, has steered clear of any criticism of Trump. The power disparity in their relationship could not have been greater.
Bush also pledged to “restore civility” to national politics, and described a muscular foreign policy that would build up the USA military and project strength around the world. Bush, whose wife is Mexican-born and has three Mexican-American children, has long embraced “the immigrant experience”. To misunderstand another culture is to misinterpret who they are as people.
“I have the energy to tear down those barriers for people that want to be lifted up”, he said, a not-so-subtle rebuttal to rival Donald Trump’s charge that Bush is “low-energy”. “I think, in fact, it is offensive to a lot of Hispanic voters”.
I can understand his sentiments to a certain extent.
REACTIONS: Attendees were polite but noncommittal at Bush’s event in Cedar Falls, and his calls for regulatory reform were met with nods of approval in Gladbrook. It’s not just a matter of “Bush fatigue”. “But he’ll express his views and defend his views”. It’s like fantasy football, I love fantasy football, but it’s not real.
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In speech and demeanor, Bush conveys a steady decency, readily dispensed.
