LAS VEGAS — Jeb Bush got aggressive with Donald Trump during Tuesday evening’s Republican presidential debate in Las Vegas, giving the New York businessman what he called a “little bit of your own medicine there, Donald.”
While debating strategies to fight ISIS, Bush, the former Florida governor, blasted Trump’s “lack of seriousness.”
Said Bush: “Look, two months ago, Donald Trump said that ISIS was not our fight. Just two months ago. He said that Hillary Clinton will be a great negotiator with Iran. And he gets his foreign policy experience from the shows. That is not a serious kind of candidate. We need someone that thinks this through, that can lead our country to safety and security.”
Trump replied by saying: “The problem is we need toughness. I think Jeb is a very nice person. He’s a very nice person. But we need tough people and we toughness. We need intelligence and we need toughness.”
He then attacked Bush for his views on illegal immigration. “Jeb said when they come across the southern border, they come as an act of love.”
After Bush interrupted him at one point, Trump said: “Are you talking or am I talking?”
Bush, more relentless in his attacks on Trump than in past debates, replied: “I’m talking. I’m talking… Little bit of your own medicine there, Donald.”
“I know you’re trying to build up your energy there, Jeb, but it’s not working,” Trump shot back, reiterating his “low-energy” line of attack against Bush.
“Donald, you’re not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency,” Bush said. “That’s not going to happen. Leadership is not about attacking people and discouraging people. It is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time.”
“With Jeb’s attitude, we will never be great again,” Trump said. “That I can tell you. We will never be great again.”
The debate took place at the Venetian hotel and casino in Las Vegas and was hosted by CNN.
Earlier in the debate, Bush called Trump “a chaos president.”
“So Donald, you know, is great at the one-liners, but he’s a chaos candidate,” Bush said. “And he’d be a chaos president. He would not be the commander in chief we need to keep our country safe.”
Trump replied: “Jeb doesn’t really believe I’m unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It’s been a total disaster.”
Other candidates didn’t pull punches.
In his opening statement, Paul went after Trump. “The question is: how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is: what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China?”
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, in his opening statement, appeared to lament the political environment that Trump is thriving in.
“Just last weekend,” Kasich said, “just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, ‘Do you like politics?’ And my daughter said, ‘No, I don’t. And the reason I don’t like it is because there’s too much fighting, too much yelling. It’s so loud, I don’t like it.’ You know, I turned to my friend and I said, “You know, she’s really on to something.”
Likewise, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina said “I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they’re looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention.”
There was one notable exception.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, whose poll numbers have been rising in Iowa, avoided criticizing the New York businessman when asked by questioner Hugh Hewitt to specifically explain his opposition to Trump’s proposal to restrict Muslims from entering the United States.
“Senator Cruz, you’ve said you disagree with Mr. Trump’s policy,” Hewitt asked Trump. “I don’t want a cage match; you’ve tweeted you don’t want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us?”
Cruz replied: “I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where ISIS or Al Qaida control substantial territory.”
The first question of the night from moderator Wolf Blitzer went to Trump over the issue.
“To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing ISIS from coming here; deport 11 million people; and wall off America’s southern border. Is the best way to make America great again to isolate it from much of the rest of the world?” Blitzer asked.
Trump replied: “We are not talking about isolation. We’re talking about security. We’re not talking about religion. We’re talking about security.”