Jeb Bush said Friday he appreciates Donald Trump’s “political incorrectness” but has no idea what kind of leader he would make “because he talks about himself the whole time.”
Asked on CBS’ “This Morning,” if he worried how Trump would lead as president Bush knocked Trump’s alleged lack of substance.
“I don’t know at all about Donald Trump’s views of leadership because he talks about himself the whole time,” Bush said Friday. “I have no clue. That’s the point. He hasn’t shared his views. When he talks about foreign policy, he talks about how Putin ought to go take care of ISIS and the week before it’s ISIS ought to take care of Assad. He would send refugees back to Syria back to their slaughter.”
Bush did have some backhanded praise for Trump, however.
“I admire the fact that he’s way too politically incorrect. I think we’re a little too uptight as a nation. I admire the fact that he doesn’t feel embarrassed about his wealth. And uh, what else do I admire about him? Let me think. Uh. Ha. He’s got a great family,” Bush said.
Despite initially being the clear front-runner, Bush has slipped to the middle of the Republican pack since Trump established his dominance of the field. The latest Fox News poll saw Bush in fifth place, nationwide with 8% support among likely Republican voters.
Meanwhile, Trump continued to dominate the field. Only Ben Carson has drawn close behind Trump — getting 23% in the most recent Fox News poll to Trump’s 24%.
Bush’s knocks on Trump Friday come after he reported raising $13.3 million in the fundraising quarter that ended September 30. The amount is a strong haul, but still left him far behind Carson, who raked in a whopping $20.7 million in that same period.
Bush downplayed questions of why he has been unable to reclaim his perch atop the field.
“I wasn’t one who thought I was a front-runner,” he told CBS. “I have to go out and tell the Jeb story. People know me as George’s boy and George’s brother. They don’t know that I was an effective conservative governor that disrupted the old order in Florida and made big changes.”
