George W. Bush Gives Maximum Donations to Trump’s GOP Foes Liz Cheney and Lisa Murkowski
Former President George W. Bush is all in, at least in terms of his personal checkbook, in supporting Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) for reelection – two Republicans Donald Trump is actively working to take down.
Bush very publicly supported Cheney’s reelection campaign with a Dallas fundraiser last fall and is likely to continue his support for his former vice president’s daughter.
The latest Federal Election Commission disclosures show Bush gave Cheney $5,800 on October 28, 2021, for both the general and primary elections – the maximum allowed individual donation. Cheney raked in $1.9 million in the last quarter of 2021, a personal record, which left her campaign account with more than $4.7 million cash on hand.
Politico reported Monday that Bush had previously donated to Cheney in 2016, but had made no other contributions in 2021 before October.
On December 31, 2021, Bush gave Murkowski $2,900 for her primary against Trump-backed Kelly Tshibaka, a former commissioner of the Alaska Department of Administration. $2,900 is the maximum allowed individual donation for a primary candidate.
Murkowski pulled in $1.2 million in the last quarter of 2021, leaving her with $4.2 million in the bank. Politico noted that December’s donation is “the first time Bush has donated to the Alaska senator, FEC records show.”
Bush’s donation came the same day that Trump sent out a statement saying that Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R-AK) accepted his endorsement, apparently agreeing to Trump’s odd ultimatum that Dunleavy not support Murkowski in her bid for reelection. Both Murkowski and Cheney broke ranks with their party in February 2021 and voted to impeach Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
While mostly staying out of the political fray since leaving the presidency, Bush has taken subtle shots at Trump in recent years. On the 20th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks, Bush gave an address that many saw as a warning against Trumpism and a condemnation of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
“There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home,” Bush said in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. “But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit. And it is our continuing duty to confront them.”
Trump condemned the remarks, saying Bush “lectures us that terrorists on the ‘right’ are a bigger problem than those from foreign countries that hate America” … “He shouldn’t be lecturing anybody!”
