Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign is actively trolling Republican Jeb Bush, looking to set up a contrast with him, in how he’s handled GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s more controversial comments.
John Podesta, the chairman of Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign, took to Twitter on Monday night to spell out differences between the Democratic presidential front-runner and Mr. Bush.
“Rs like @JebBush who are standing by @realDonaldTrump instead of standing up to him don’t understand the damage his statements do,” Mr. Podesta tweeted.
He then followed up that tweet with a tweet reminiscent of Mr. Trump himself.
“Latest from @JebBush: very low energy,” Mr. Podesta tweeted.
Mr. Bush has taken a stronger tone on the campaign trail going after Mr. Trump on the stump. His campaign released a new video calling out his GOP rivals for not being as aggressive has he in calling out Mr. Trump’s divisive rhetoric.
“This is not a serious man that has serious plans, and I believe it is important for people to look at the facts of this,” Mr. Bush said at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire Monday.
Still, Mr. Bush has been slow in his evolution in taking on Mr. Trump. His campaign first started out as the “happy tortoise,” then spun into “Jeb can fix it,” and after picking up little to no momentum, has evolved into attacking Mr. Trump.
If Mr. Bush is successful, and eventually wins the nomination, his reluctance to take on Mr. Trump earlier in the campaign season will surely be pointed out by Mrs. Clinton’s campaign — who has vowed not to cower to the businessman.
“@HillaryClinton will never apologize for and never back down from calling out @realDonaldTrump’s hateful, dangerous rhetoric,” Mr. Podesta tweeted Monday night.
In the third democratic debate on Saturday, Mrs. Clinton suggested that the Islamic State terror group is “showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists,” a claim that Politifact rated as false, with Mr. Trump demanding an apology.
Mrs. Clinton’s campaign has been adamant it will do no such thing.
• Kelly Riddell can be reached at kriddell@washingtontimes.com.
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