The following editorial appeared in The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Former President George H.W. Bush’s plan to vote for Hillary Clinton — the wife of the politician who pushed him out of the White House 24 years ago — should come as no surprise to anyone.

Whatever you think of his politics, the first President Bush has always put an emphasis on grace and civility. Everything about blustering, transgressive, rude Donald Trump is an affront to his sensibilities. Bush was perhaps most proud of the strong relationships he built with foreign leaders while president. In Clinton, unlike Trump, he sees someone who thinks this matters.

But given that Trump’s appeal is built off his contempt for the establishment — any establishment — Bush 41’s rejection of Trump may reinforce one of his messages: The people running America are scared that he’ll shake things up. And the optics of how the news reached the public — via the Facebook page of former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the daughter of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and niece of former President John F. Kennedy — prompted a social media frenzy.

The fact that a member of one American political dynasty shared the news that another member of an American political dynasty will vote for the member of yet another American political dynasty was treated by Trump fans as affirmation of their conspiratorial mindset — not as a highly credible critique of their Republican candidate by a former Republican president.

How strange these past 16 months have been.

We hope things don’t get even stranger come Nov. 8.