Jeb Bush

As his chances wilted, Jeb Bush officially suspended his campaign for president on Monday, February 22.

From 1998 to 2007, Jeb Bush was the governor of Florida. He’s the son of George Bush, the 41st U.S. president, and the brother of George W. Bush, the 43rd U.S. president. He moved to Mexico to teach English, where he met his wife, Columba, who he has been married to since 1974.

The list of people striving to be the next president is, admittedly, rather lengthy, but Jeb Bush stood out, despite Donald Trump’s browbeats. His positions during the presidential election were grounding troops to fight ISIS, the disapproval of the legalization of marijuana for personal and recreational use, and controlling immigration.

Defeating the Islamic State

According to his campaign site, Jeb! 2016, the United States “ha[s] around 3,500 soldiers and marines in Iraq, and more may well be needed,” meaning that more troops need to be grounded in Iraq. He also mentions ways to defeat ISIS, one of them involving “[the] creat[ion of] an expand[ed] no-fly zone in Syria to prevent more crimes by the regime”, meaning that no aircraft can fly over Syria which’ll decrease the crime rate.

Legalization of Marijuana

OnTheIssues reports that back in high school during the 1960s, Jeb Bush smoked marijuana and drank alcohol, later saying his use of drugs was “stupid” and “wrong”. During the 2015 Republican primary debate, he told CNN: “Medical marijuana on the ballot was opened up[.] As a citizen of Florida, I said no”. Bush opposed medical marijuana and voted no on the ballot question. David Adams from Reuter writes that Bush said: “Florida leaders and citizens have worked for years to make the Sunshine State a world-class location to start or run a business, a family-friendly destination for tourism anhttp://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-florida-marijuana-idUSKBN0GE2B620140814d a desirable place to raise a family or retire[.] Allowing large-scale, marijuana operations to take root across Florida, under the guise of using it for medicinal purposes, runs counter to all of these efforts.” Bush believes that when medical marijuana is legalized, using his state as an example, he says that medical marijuana will be disguised and will be sold for recreational use.

Immigration

quotes Bush of saying: “My wife is Mexican-American. She’s an American by choice. She loves this country, and wants a secure border.” Even though Bush’s wife is from Mexico, she firmly believes that the border should be controlled.

During the CNN Two-Tier GOP primary debate, Jeb Bush had this to say in response to Trump criticizing Bush for speaking Spanish: “Well, I’ve been speaking English here tonight, and I’ll keep speaking English. But the simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish, I’m going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish.” Even though he speaks English, he would speak Spanish to another Spanish speaker to show respect.

Bush vs. Trump

Even though he’s dropped out of the presidential race, Bush would’ve been a better fit in the White House than any other Republican running, especially the frontrunner, Donald Trump. Trump has been featured in the news numerous of times for his controversial statements about other candidates.

One of his quotes slammed both Bush and Ted Cruz: “You are the single biggest liar. You probably are worse than Jeb Bush. This guy lied. He’s a nasty guy” (Broomfield). This quote from Trump is an example of the ad hominem fallacy, which is when someone criticizes and insults someone’s character rather than their ideas.

Trump’s style of attacking people shows that he would not be a fit president because if we were to get into a conflict with another country, with his most recent actions, Trump could just insult that country and their leader instead of coming to a fair and reasonable resolution.

Endorsement

Before he dropped from the presidential race, Jeb Bush would’ve been, and still is, the best candidate for the Oval Office because his beliefs and stances on issues would benefit America the most. For example, his policy concerning how to deal with ISIS is the quickest and smoothest solution.

Even though Bush would’ve been a much better candidate, he may not have had a chance in the race against the giant Trump, who has been dominating the competition so far.

If he was still apart of the presidential race, Bush would’ve been the best candidate for the 45th president of the United States. While Trump’s slogan (“Make America Great Again!”) claims he’ll make America great again, America is still great, and Jeb Bush would’ve made it even greater.