Donald Trump attacked George W. Bush as if he was running
Donald Trump slammed President George W. Bush harder than any Democrat could. He is already running as if he is in the general campaign. He used Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio’s defense and kept turning it against GWB.
Here is the text of the exchange.
Donald Trump: Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake. All right? Now, you can take it any way you want, and it took — it took Jeb Bush, if you remember at the beginning of his announcement, when he announced for president, it took him five days. He went back, it was a mistake, it wasn’t a mistake. It took him five days before his people told him what to say, and he ultimately said, “it was a mistake.” The war in Iraq, we spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don’t even have it. Iran has taken over Iraq with the second-largest oil reserves in the world. Obviously, it was a mistake. George Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East.
Jeb Bush: And while Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe. And I’m proud of what he did. And he has had the gall to go after my brother.
Donald Trump: The World Trade Center came down during your brother’s reign, remember that.
Marco Rubio: I think you can look back in hindsight and say a couple of things, but he kept us safe. And not only did he keep us safe, but no matter what you want to say about weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein was in violation of U.N. resolutions, in open violation, and the world wouldn’t do anything about it, and George W. Bush enforced what the international community refused to do. And again, he kept us safe, and I am forever grateful to what he did for this country.
Donald Trump: How did he keep us safe when the World Trade Center — the World — excuse me. I lost hundreds of friends. The World Trade Center came down during the reign of George Bush. He kept us safe? That is not safe. That is not safe, Marco. That is not safe.
Marco Rubio: The World Trade Center came down because Bill Clinton didn’t kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him.
Donald Trump: And George Bush by the way, George Bush had the chance, also, and he didn’t listen to the advice of his CIA.