It’s not clear why Bush even attempts to land direct hits on Donald Trump anymore, seeing as it usually blows up tragically in his face. But at tonight’s Republican debate he went for an old-fashioned decency hit, pointing out that Trump has a habit of insulting, well, everyone (including him).
“It’s weak to disparage women,” Bush began. “It’s weak to disparage hispanics. It’s weak to denigrate the disabled. And it’s really weak to call John McCain a loser, that’s outrageous. He’s an American hero.”
Despite the fact that Bush was objectively correct about Trump’s campaign of slander, Trump still got the better of the exchange by spinning Bush’s attack into a plea for political correctness: “He said about language—my language. Two days ago he said he would take his pants off and moon everybody, and that’s fine, nobody reports that. Then he tells me, oh, my language was a little bit rough. My language! Give me a break.”
It was a double-whammy. Not only did Trump call Bush out as a hypocrite; he framed his objection as a sniffling whine about language rather than a general attack on Trump’s apparent lack of conscience. Bush came off looking like a dude who whines about words while fantasizing about mooning people, and Trump like a guy who would likely follow through with such a threat.