Elections

Never Trumpers Romney, Kasich, Bush Call President-Elect With Congratulations

Donald Trump Holds Campaign Rally In Virginia Beach

(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Kerry Picket Political Reporter
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President-elect Donald Trump says he received congratulatory phone calls on Sunday from some of his harshest critics within the Republican Party.

According to Trump, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, former presidents George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney each contacted him by telephone to congratulate him on his win against Hillary Clinton last Tuesday.

Trump’s relationship with the Bush family soured during the presidential primary when the race became particularly contentious between Jeb and Trump. Although most of the Bush family appeared to not support Trump’s candidacy throughout the general election, Jeb’s son George P. Bush, land commissioner of Texas, endorsed Trump and campaigned for him in the Lone Star State.

It should be noted the highest ranking establishment Republican to back Trump was former Vice President Dick Cheney, who The Daily Caller reported, voted for Trump on election day.  Cheney’s daughter Liz, who was recently elected to the at large House seat in Wyoming, endorsed Trump in August.

Gov. Kasich, who long opposed Trump even throughout the GOP Convention in Cleveland, believed Trump would lose and an opening for him to run in 2020 would emerge. When Ohio went for the New York billionaire and Clinton eventually lost, Kasich’s staff sat him down and discussed how to go forward with Trump in the White House for at least the next four years.

Gov. Romney, whose 2012 election numbers are being scrutinized against Trump’s, eventually tweeted best wishes to Trump one day after Trump won the election.

 

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