Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says the Bushes, who will not be attending the Republican National Convention, are behaving “childishly” and need to “get over it.”
“Frankly, the Bushes are behaving, I think, childishly,” Mr. Gingrich said on ABC’s “Good Morning America. “Jeb lost. Get over it.”
Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and one-time 2016 rival of Donald Trump, is not scheduled to attend the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this week. The two living Republican former presidents, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, are likewise not scheduled to attend.
“The fact is this Republican Party’s been awfully good to the Bushes,” Mr. Gingrich said.
Mr. Gingrich also said 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney kept his distance from former President Reagan in a 1994 U.S. Senate debate and refused to support the “Contract with America.”
“He comes along and says I’ve now changed; I’m now a real Republican,” Mr. Gingrich said of his 2012 Republican presidential rival. “As long as we were supporting him, Mitt Romney was really happy.”
Mr. Romney, an outspoken critic of Mr. Trump, also is not planning to attend the GOP convention.
But Mr. Gingrich, who was in the running to be Mr. Trump’s running mate, said he didn’t think the high-profile absences will matter much.
“The reason people nominated Donald Trump is they weren’t happy,” Mr. Gingrich said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.