With his grand rollout of the controversial and indisputably-offensive “anchor babies” terminology, desperate-for-traction Jeb Bush yesterday became the latest GOP candidate to cast his lot with Team Trump — the Donald’s crew of immigration policy extremists, headlined by such luminaries as Ben Carson, who yesterday said he was open to using military drone strikes on the U.S.-Mexico border.
But Jeb’s migration to the Donald’s anti-immigrant rhetoric didn’t cause Trump to pull any punches during their “dueling” town hall events in New Hampshire last night.
It’s Donald Trump we’re talking about here — he couldn’t help himself. Trump gave Jeb Bush a sound rhetorical beating and his crowd of over 1,000 supporters couldn’t get enough of it.
Here’s why Team Jeb! has a bad hangover this morning:
Washington Post: Bush and Trump face off in N.H. — and The Donald is winning
Trump taunted Bush with his visit Wednesday. Only after Bush had announced his Merrimack town hall meeting did Trump schedule his for the same time in nearby Derry, inviting comparisons between their crowd sizes and performance levels. As Trump’s capacity crowd grew restless — chanting “We want Trump!” — the candidate held court backstage for a half- hour with reporters. He slammed Bush for past comments about immigration, the Iraq war and women’s health. “I don’t see how he’s electable,” he said…When Trump took the stage, he told the crowd: “You know what’s happening to Jeb’s crowd just down the street? They’re sleeping!” The juxtaposition is not helpful for Bush, who, at a moment when voters want to feel electricity from their politicians, has been criticized for having no spark.
New York Times: Dueling Town Hall Meetings Add Distance to Jeb Bush-Donald Trump Gulf
In an apt sign of the enthusiasm imbalance, Fox News at one point cut away from Mr. Bush, midsentence, to focus on an empty lectern awaiting Mr. Trump…Mr. Trump laid into Mr. Bush in his typical panache, offering up red meat to his crowd: “Jeb Bush is a low-energy person,” he said. “For him to get things done is very hard.” Mr. Trump also said he doubted Mr. Bush could win. “I don’t see how he’s electable.”
Politico: Donald Trump upstages, attacks Jeb Bush in New Hampshire
For Donald Trump, it wasn’t enough to upstage Jeb Bush by booking a town hall meeting at the same time as the former Florida governor. Trump had to attack him, too…Trump went after the former Florida governor on multiple fronts, dismissing Bush’s positions on education, health care, immigration and foreign policy…Trump said that he’s only talking about Bush because “he’s going down like a rock” even though he was supposed to do well in New Hampshire.
Wall Street Journal: Donald Trump and Jeb Bush Duel at Competing Events in New Hampshire
Mr. Trump’s decision to schedule a town hall at the exact same time as Mr. Bush could have been dismissed as a coincidence—if not for his own admission. “Because Bush draws so poorly, I figured it would be a good time to draw a crowd. Something like that,” Mr. Trump told a Wall Street Journal reporter Monday. And it provided just the latest illustration of how Mr. Trump is tossing out the traditional primary playbook and trying to knock his more politically experienced rivals off their games.
USA Today: Trump touts his ‘beautiful’ wall, slams Jeb Bush in N.H. town hall
Earlier at a news conference that served as an opening act, Trump opened his attack on Bush and slammed Mitt Romney, the party’s 2012 nominee who lost to President Obama. “I don’t see how he’s electable,” Trump said of Bush. Trump, as he has previously, called Bush’s comment that Iraqis want to know the United States has “skin in the game” in the fight against the Islamic State “one of the dumber things I’ve heard ever in politics.”
Published: Aug 20, 2015