George W. and H.W. Bush to Endorse No One in 2016

This election, former presidents George W. and George H.W. Bush plan to back the candidate widely considered to be the most qualified in 2016: None of them.

“At age 91, President [George H.W.] Bush is retired from politics,” a Bush 41 spokesperson told The Texas Tribune on Wednesday. “He came out of retirement to do a few things for Jeb, but those were the exceptions that proved the rule.”

Similarly, a personal aide told the Tribune that George W. “does not plan to participate in or comment on the presidential campaign.”

According to The Washington Post, this makes Donald Trump the first (presumptive) Republican nominee in 20 years the elder Bush has not endorsed for president:

Although George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush have not critiqued Trump in so many words, they have made some veiled criticisms. At a campaign event for his brother Jeb Bush in February, Bush 43 noted that in his experience, “the strongest person in the room usually isn’t the loudest one in the room.”

And Bush 41's silence tells its own story.

Of course, to an avowed outsider like Trump, silence from Bush clan might be far better than an endorsement.