Jeb Bush: Will strike at Trump when "he says things that are ugly"
"Damn right I'm going to fight back!" Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush declared Thursday, telling a voter that he wouldn't be taking Donald Trump's periodic jabs at him anymore without punching back.
At an evening town hall in Laconia, New Hampshire, a fired up Bush warned that, "I'm sure as hell, when he attacks me personally or disparages my family, damn right I'm going to fight back." Bush accused the billionaire of using racially coded language to prey on people's anger and said, "I'm going to push back when he says things that are ugly."
The former Florida governor accused Trump of using language that incites racists, telling reporters that Trump's suggestion that Bush should stick with speaking English in the United States sent an "ugly signal." While allowing that, "people that come to this country need to learn English," Bush said it "doesn't mean they stop speaking their native tongue...Perhaps even more offensive was the notion that somehow I went down to the border and spoke Mexican. Those are dog whistle terms. He knows what he's doing."
Reporters also asked Bush about Trump's interview on Hugh Hewitt's radio show Thursday. Trump had struggled through the interview - at one point confusing "al Quds" with "Kurds" - and accused Hewitt of asking "gotcha" questions. Bush visibly smirked when reporters asked him about Trump's performance. "This is not a flippant thing. This is a serious deal" Bush said, telling reporters he had read the transcript of the Hewitt-Trump exchange. He then mockingly offered, "I'm sure he'll get better."
Also for the first time, Bush also weighed in on the controversy over Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. She was ordered to jail by a U.S. District Court judge on Wednesday. Trying to strike a middle ground, he pointed out that Davis "is sworn to upload the law" but said that "there ought to be common ground...for her to act on her conscience." He added that he was "confused" about why that wasn't possible, but concluded that "people have the right to be able to get a certificate of marriage."