Okay so that’s a little dramatic. But it is clear there is a divide on the Right side. Bush has always been a party man and kept the party line and is clearly weary of Trump’s radical ideas and policies.
One area where he seems to particularly disagree with Trump is on his promise to push NAFTA and eradicate the TPP (or Trans-Pacific Partnership). Bush made the announcement speaking from his presidential library in Dallas. Although The North American Free Trade Agreement was his father’s baby, Bush Jr. realizes that putting a focus on it would seem somewhat regressive and an attempt to make the U.S. more insular.
The irony is that Trump has vowed to work with Canada and Mexico in order to create a trading powerhouse whilst simultaneously making abundantly clear he doesn’t want Mexicans in his own backyard, so to speak.
Whilst Trump has surrounded himself by radicals it refreshing to see that not all Republicans favor his gung-ho approach. Some seemingly prefer a more conservative approach (It’s rare to hear a liberal saying they prefer a conservative view!).
Bush has urged Trump to make sure that the United States has a dynamic, instead of a stagnating, economy and it is clear that the former president believes that pushing ahead with the TPP is the way to do that.
The fear is that if Trump leads the US away from the TPP that the Asian market will be dominated by China, but Trump seems to believe that focusing on NAFTA will make the US stronger rumor has it this item is on the agenda for his first year as president.
Hopefully the former president isn’t the only Republican that is willing to take a stand against some of Trump’s more extreme ideas. With a majority in congress and the senate the more people that aren’t sold on his ideals the better. Otherwise the U.S. is going to be in for a very long four years.
Featured Image by The U.S. Army via Flickr under a CC BY-2.0 license
