Former President George W. Bush said in an interview he did not vote for either candidate in the 2020 presidential election and instead wrote in Condoleeza Rice, who served as his secretary of state.
“She knows it,” he told People. “But she told me she would refuse to accept the office.”
The relationship between the Bush family and former President Trump has never been close. Trump defeated his brother, Jeb Bush, in the tense Republican primary in 2016.
Bush, who has a new book, “Out of Many, One: Portraits of America’s Immigrants,” said in an interview with NBC’s “Today” show on Tuesday that the Republican Party he served as president has become “isolationist, protectionist and, to a certain extent, nativist” and says he’s especially concerned about anti-immigration rhetoric
“It’s a beautiful country we have and yet it’s not beautiful when we condemn, call people names and scare people about immigration,” he said.
Rice has been mentioned as a viable Republican candidate for president due to her experience in government. She served as secretary of state under Bush from 2005 to 2009 and previously served as a national security adviser.
Politico reported in 2016—when Trump’s run for office was gaining steam—that Rice expressed little interest in running as his vice president pick, or politics in general.
“Dr. Rice has repeatedly said in past cycles as well as this one, she’s not interested in being vice president. She’s happy at Stanford and plans to stay.”
Rice is the Denning Professor in global business and the economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.