David Jackson

USA TODAY

CLEVELAND — Even while introducing running mate Mike Pence, Donald Trump found time to mention his record-setting primary performance — and to again bash his least favorite Republican political family.

"Pretty good," Trump said Saturday of his almost 14 million primary votes. "More than the Bushes."

From his campaign announcement to the Republican convention, it seems like Trump has run against the Bush family more than anybody else, save Hillary and Bill Clinton.

In addition to personal attacks against Jeb Bush and the legacy of President George W. Bush during the primary campaign, Trump has broken with the Bush family on several issues with which they've long been associated: free-trade agreements, a revamped immigration system, entitlement spending and the use of American leadership on the world stage.

"On all of these counts, Trump is the anti-Bush candidate," said Tony Fratto, a former spokesman for George W. Bush, adding: "That's one of the reasons he will be unsuccessful."

Members of the Bush family have said little about Trump since the end of the Republican primaries, but their views are clear. Former president George H.W. Bush is not attending Trump's convention in Cleveland nor are his sons.

Once revered, Jeb Bush now an object of scorn for refusing to back Trump

Trump often says he is leading more of "a movement" than a campaign, a post-Bush party that wants to rework "unfair" trade deals that cut U.S. jobs, crack down more on illegal immigration and demand that allies contribute more to global defense. The newly minted official nominee has also criticized Republicans for wanting to make changes to Social Security and Medicare because of rising costs.

While making "low energy" Jeb Bush the first and biggest target of his primary campaign, Trump also attacked George W. Bush, suggesting the president lied about alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and possibly should have been impeached over the invasion of that country.

Bush 41, 43 won't be endorsing Trump

Since clinching the Republican nomination, the maverick New York businessman has also expressed annoyance at Bush family refusals to endorse him, though he has also said it doesn't really matter.

"I went through a very rough primary where I was very harsh on some people, like Jeb Bush," Trump told CNBC in May. "And, you know, you wonder why the Bush family wants to sit it out. I was also harsh on his brother. His brother got us into the war on Iraq, one of the worst decisions in the history of our country, and I said it loud and clear."

Attacks on a prominent Republican family do not seem to have hurt Trump among a changing GOP electorate. Part of it is disdain for the political class in general.

Republican strategist Kevin Madden, a George W. Bush campaign veteran who has been a critic of Trump, said that part of his anti-Bush campaign is an appeal to voters "who just don't trust legacies and don't trust elites in this country."

Paul Manafort, Trump's top campaign aide, took a shot at the family when asked this week about its absence in Cleveland.

"You know, they're part of the past," Manafort said. "I mean, we are dealing with the future."

Not so fast, said some Bush supporters.

Republicans like Fratto said that, if and when Trump is defeated in the November general election, Bush-like political values will return to the fore. Kristy Campbell, a longtime Jeb Bush aide, said Trump could well turn out to be an "anomaly" in the evolution of the Republican Party.

To be sure, Trump displayed an anti-Bush campaign style in his march to the nomination.

In his two successful presidential runs, George W. Bush made explicit appeals to Hispanic voters. He backed changes to the immigration system that would have granted some sort of legal status to immigrants who are already in the country illegally.

Bush also won some 44% of the Hispanic vote in his 2004 re-election.

Trump also says he will do well with Hispanics with his economic and jobs plans. But Hispanic leaders have criticized this year's GOP candidate for claims that Mexico is sending "criminals" across the border and for promising to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Trump is polling around 25% or less among Hispanics, the fastest growing segment of the population.

Trump faces major challenges with Hispanic voters

Members of the Bush family have declined to comment in detail about Trump. In an email to USA TODAY, Jeb Bush did dispute news reports that he is still pained by his primary defeat.

"I am not smarting over the campaign loss," Bush said. "My life goes on."