"This is not the normal fare you get, certainly."īush himself has begun firing back on the stump, though not with Trump's vigor and mostly without naming his opponent. "Some find it entertaining, some find it odd," Martinez said. Former governor Bob Martinez, a Bush friend and supporter, asked, "Is this the way he acts when he's negotiating with somebody?" In Florida, Bush's associates have been flummoxed by the pace and intensity of Trump's assaults. "While Trump was attending New York liberal cocktail parties and trashing conservatives and Republican presidents any chance he got, Jeb was the most conservative governor in the country, cutting taxes, reining in the size of government, and protecting life," Miller said. Responding to Trump's broader criticisms, Miller highlighted the developer's past ties to Democrats and liberal causes. Tim Miller, a Bush spokesman, said Trump "is trafficking in false conspiracy theories" about Lehman. Let me ask you: Why would you pay a man $1.3 million a year for a no-show job at Lehman Brothers - which, when it failed, almost took the world with it?"Īsked if he thought Bush was ready to steer the nation's economy, Trump said, "Steer it? He can't steer himself." "That's a Hillary Clinton kind of situation," Trump said, referring to the Democratic front-runner. Trump called Bush's role at Lehman a "no-show job" and suggested it was a reward for helping direct Florida state funds to the firm, whose collapse in 2008 helped kick off the Great Recession. After leaving the governor's office in 2007, Bush was an adviser to Lehman Brothers and, later, Barclays, earning between $1.3 million and $2 million a year. Trump was especially accusatory when he talked about Jeb Bush's work in investment banking. Jeb is never going to bring us to the promised land. I'd watch him in interviews and I'd look at people and ask, 'Do you think he understands the question?' "Īnd back to Jeb: "He's not up to snuff. But I hated his 'read my lips, no more taxes,' and then he raised taxes monstrously." Bush: "I really liked the father - really like him as a person. He found 33 ways to skewer the family - about one put-down per minute. In a 35-minute interview this week with the Washington Post tracing his history with the Bushes, Trump unleashed a hailstorm of scorn. Bush over the war in Iraq during his tenure.īut Trump reserves particular, personal ire for Jeb Bush, whose first name he commonly mocks by drawing out in a slight drawl. He lashed out at former president George W. Bush when he raised taxes during his term despite pledging not to do so. Trump turned on former president George H.W. Trump shrugs off the suggestion that his rivalry with the Bushes is rooted in pedigree, although he is open about his animosity toward them he characterizes his relationship with former president Bill Clinton, for instance, as far closer. The Trumps didn't come on the Mayflower." Asked why the Bushes often have kept Trump at arm's length, he said: "He's not from old, WASP money. "The Bushes were never Trump's cup of tea," said Roger Stone, a longtime confidant and former adviser to Trump. Bush rose as forces in their respective spheres, the relationship between Trump and the Bushes has been a melodrama -veering between displays of public affection and acerbic insults.Īt the core, there are clashes of style, manner and class between the Bushes - a patrician clan of presidents, governors and financiers who have pulled the levers of power for generations - and Trump, a hustling New York City deal-maker who turned his father's outer borough real-estate portfolio into a gold-plated empire. Since the gilded 1980s, when Trump and George H.W. The 2016 campaign is only the latest manifestation of decades of discord between Trump and the Bush family. And considering Trump's dominant status in polls and Bush's fundraising dominance, the tensions between the two are likely to be a factor for weeks or months to come as each candidate attempts to topple the other on his way to the nomination. The feud between the two leading Republicans, which has escalated in recent days, is shaping up as a defining dynamic at this early stage of the race. Trump's jeering that day was a harbinger of the taunts and derision that the 2016 GOP front-runner has directed at Bush on the campaign trail this summer.
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