Free Republic

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's experience in the 2016 Republican presidential primary was apparently enough to make him swear off ever running for political office again. While speaking Thursday at Texas A&M University, where he's spending two weeks teaching a course about governors, Bush admitted that he thinks 2016 was his best — and only — shot at making his presidential dreams a reality. "I unraveled everything I was doing to prepare for this — you don't do that lightly," Bush said. "I just think this was my chance." But Bush swears he's doing okay in spite of his loss....

It’s a tough position to be in if you’re the former Florida Governor staring down the barrel of a gun in the 2016 general election. After all, you’re the only member of your family to seek the Presidency with disastrous results and the “chaos candidate” who beat you handedly has basically been your sworn enemy for the last year. So when Jeb Bush was pressed by former GOP strategist Nicolle Wallace about who he would be voting, he doubled down on assertions he has previously alluded to: neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump would earn his vote.

I congratulate Donald Trump on securing his place as the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee. There is no doubt that he successfully tapped into the deep sense of anger and frustration so many Americans around the country rightfully feel today. The tremendous anger of the current U.S. electorate – whether Republican, Democrat or independent – is a result of people fearful about the future, concerned with the direction of our country and tremendously frustrated by the abject failure and inability of leaders in Washington, D.C. to make anything better. American voters have made it clear that Washington is broken, but I’m...