Herman Cain, the businessman who staged an unsuccessful presidential run in 2012, announced Monday that he’ll appear at a campaign rally for another businessman-turned-candidate: Donald Trump.
The radio show host and former Godfather’s Pizza CEO also had some harsh words for Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush, who has sought to reassure supporters by drawing comparisons between Trump’s dominance in the polls with past candidates, such as Cain, who soared in early polling, only to falter.
Bush, the son and brother of former presidents, was once considered a front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination but has struggled to gain traction. (Bush is polling between 5% and 6% is most national polls, trailing Trump, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.)
Cain, who dropped out of the 2012 campaign amid allegations of previous sexual misconduct, is none too pleased about the comparisons Bush is drawing.
In an essay, titled “Big Talk from Mr. 5.5 percent,” and posted on his website Monday, Cain wrote:
At the height of my campaign I was in first place at 24 percent. Even when I left the race I was in third place at 14 place. Who am I? A guy who ran a pizza company and had a successful corporate career before hosting a talk show in Atlanta. I was not anonymous but I was hardly famous.
Who is Jeb Bush? He is the former governor of Florida and he has one of the most famous political last names in America. He has more political money behind him than any candidate in this race with the possible exception of Hillary Clinton. And how is he doing in the polls? The current Real Clear Politics average shows him in fifth place at 5.5 percent.
If you want to say I had a “fall,” go ahead, I guess. You can’t fall when you’ve never gotten any higher than the floor in the first place, and that’s the state of the Jeb Bush campaign. A guy with his name, his money and the team behind him should be one of the top-tier contenders, and he should certainly not be letting Donald Trump wipe the floor with him if Trump is as unserious and unqualified as Bush would have you believe.
Cain did not say whether he would endorse Trump, but said he plans to appear at a rally Monday evening with the billionaire developer in Georgia.
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