Jeb Bush Could Endorse Someone Surprising

Jeb Bush refuses to endorse Donald Trump. And I'll bet we're more likely to see Trump's sons fly before Jeb endorses Hillary Clinton. So, what is a Jeb to do? Is he just going endorse no one? For some, "no one" comes by the name of Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate whom you might be surprised to hear is, in fact, still passionately running for the presidency. Will Jeb Bush endorse Gary Johnson?

Johnson seems to see it as a possibility. According to Politico's Caroline Kelly, Johnson "alluded" to a possible Jeb Bush endorsement when he talked to CNN on Wednesday. Johnson based the possibility on conversations they had, which were supposedly not initiated by Johnson himself. Johnson was as not surprisingly vague on the subject, and said to CNN about their talk, “You don't go from being the Republican nominee to say, 'Hey, I'm supporting Gary Johnson. ...You go to say, ‘Hey, I'm going to look at his campaign," according to The Hill.

Unable to get voters to "please clap" for his own candidacy earlier this year, Bush is left in a rough situation in terms of handing out his support. According to USA Today's Ledyard King, Bush recently told MSNBC, “Donald Trump is barely a Republican. He's certainly not a conservative. ... I can't vote for Donald Trump and I can't vote for Hillary Clinton. It breaks my heart.”

Facing immense pressure from his fellow Republicans to back the Republican nominee, Bush has gotten a small taste of the scream-fest endured by Ted Cruz at the RNC Convention on Wednesday night. Donald Trump himself came out in May to say Bush is "not a man of honor," according to BuzzFeed News, for refusing to honor the pledge he signed to support the party's eventual nominee.

Gary Johnson is now hoping that he is the answer to Bush's prayers. Reports Politico, Johnson predicts his supporters will find substantial overlap between their platforms, especially in relation to their mutual support of small businesses. Though Johnson's libertarianism may seem a far cry from Bush's Republican establishment comfort zone, the former Florida governor may very well favor it over Trump's rogue unpredictability, and Hillary's... everything.

Though many may write off Bush's potential support of Johnson as an inconsequential distraction, Johnson doesn't see it that way. At 13 percent in the latest CNN polls, Gary Johnson is only two percentage points in the polls away from making the stage at the presidential debates in the fall, says The Hill. Gary's making headway, and it could be that Jeb Bush is merely one of the first to take notice.