This week’s Republican National Convention (RNC) has been filled with tons of GOP luminaries.
Even some of former President Donald’s Trump’s toughest critics, like former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, took centerstage at the RNC to voice their support for Trump in the upcoming election.
And during a time with the Republican Party should be coming together in unity in the aftermath of the assasination attempt against Trump — coupled with the spiraling demise of President Joe Biden within his own party — there are still many big names in the Republican Party who are staying out of the limelight.
In fact, five of the biggest names in the GOP were notably absent from this week’s RNC. And MSNBC made sure to let viewers know about it.
Hahahahahahahahahhhahhahahahhaha
*gasps*
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Oh man.
They don’t know anything. pic.twitter.com/9sdo5ZdGUP
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 17, 2024
Yes, the likes of George W. Bush, Mike Pence, Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney, and Paul Ryan were not in attendance this week.
But if you’ve been paying attention, this shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Bush said in a 2021 interview that his party has become ‘isolationist, protectionist and, to a certain extent, nativist.’ And while he didn’t name Trump in the interview, it wasn’t exactly a glowing review of Trump, either.
Pence of course was Trump’s former VP but has publicly pledged never to support his former boss again.
Romney was the only Republican to vote to convict Trump on both impeachments. So, that could be awkward.
Ryan said in May he does not plan to vote for Trump in November, suggesting he would write in another candidate instead.
“Character is too important to me,” Ryan, who left Congress in 2019, told Yahoo Finance at the Milken Global Institute Conference. “And it’s a job that requires the kind of character that he just doesn’t have.”
And Cheney led January 6 Committee and was not-reelected by her home state of Wyoming.
Even if they did show up this week, it’s unlikely they would have been rubbing elbows with Trump.