CONTOOCOOK, N.H. (AP) – Days after going toe-to-toe with Donald Trump on the debate stage, Jeb Bush seemed to relish his new role as the Republican front-runner’s chief critic while campaigning on Saturday in New Hampshire.
“I’ve got to get this off my chest: Donald Trump is a jerk,” Bush said, unprompted, between answering two voters’ questions. Then he slammed the billionaire businessman for insulting women, Hispanics and people with disabilities during the campaign.
“Who is he kidding?” Bush asked the crowd. “I gave myself therapy there. Thank you for allowing me to do it,” he admitted, half-jokingly.
Bush’s frustrations with Trump are not surprising. Once considered the establishment favorite for the party’s nomination, Bush’s policy-heavy campaign has been sagging for months and failing to break into the double digits in preference polls. Trump, by comparison, continues to dominate the field, seemingly becoming stronger with each new, inflammatory statement he makes, the latest calling to ban Muslims from entering the country.
Bush isn’t the first GOP presidential candidate to swing at Trump. Ohio Gov. John Kasich and an outside group backing him, for example, have attacked Trump for months in press releases and digital advertisements. But as Bush engaged repeatedly with Trump in Tuesday’s debate, Kasich largely avoided taking on the real estate mogul.