With Jeb Bush announcing Tuesday morning that he will “actively explore the possibility” of running for president in 2016, radio host Rush Limbaugh said Bush is setting up a “sacrificial run” to make sure a “tea party-type” does not get the nomination.
Limbaugh added that Bush is being viewed by the “big-money donor class” and the establishment as a “savior,” and that the establishment wants nothing more, calling it their “wildest dream,” to “render the tea party, conservatives an irrelevant factor.”
“You want to know why Jeb Bush is thinking about running?” Limbaugh asked Tuesday.
“He’s…being looked at as savior by the big-money donor class and the consultant class, the establishment of the party, to head off the tea party,” Limbaugh said. “They’re gonna pull out all the stops to make sure that a tea-party-type conservative doesn’t get the nomination.”
“It could be a sacrificial run just to make sure that a conservative doesn’t get the nomination in 2016,” Limbaugh said. “There’s a whole bunch of stuff under the surface here that’s percolating and effervescing and it’s all about us being the No. 1 enemy of these people.”
“He’s not a conservative. He is a Republican probably on fiscal issues, may even be pro-life, I don’t know, but he certainly hates social issues,” Limbaugh added.
Bush’s announcement comes on the heels of his commencement address at the University of South Carolina, the home to one of the most important presidential primaries.
“As a result of these conversations and thoughtful consideration of the kind of strong leadership I think America needs, I have decided to actively explore the possibility of running for President of the United States,” Bush said in his Facebook post Tuesday morning.
“In the coming months, I hope to visit with many of you and have a conversation about restoring the promise of America,” he added.
Limbaugh continued his critique of a potential Bush run, saying that Bush’s main goal is to win the Republican Party’s nomination “without securing the base.”
“He’s going to do it by ignoring the base. Jeb Bush is out telling donors…that he is not gonna compromise his principles like others have in order to get the nomination, meaning he’s not gonna pander to the tea party. Nope. He’s not gonna pander to conservatives. He’s gonna show that you can win the Republican Party nomination without securing the base,” the conservative radio host said.
“The Republican Party is dominated now by what is called in the parlance of the day, the donor class … the big, big donors,” Limbaugh continued.
“So when you hear Jeb, or anybody else, seek the Republican nomination and start talking about doing it without winning the base … they’re trying to all come up with a way to win the party nomination without owing anything to the tea party.” Limbaugh said. “Their wildest dream is to render the tea party conservatives an irrelevant factor.”
“And one of the primary reasons for that is that’s what the donors want. The donors rule the roost. The donors are the big money. And the donors determine in large part what the party does.” Limbaugh said, adding that “a lot of this talk about the Jeb candidacy is an attempt to see if they can actually, once and for all, in a primary setting, relegate the tea party and members of it who are elected, such as Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, impotent.”