Flamboyant businessman Donald Trump didn’t hesitate Sunday when he was asked if President George W. Bush kept America safe.
“No, because the World Trade Center was knocked down,” Mr. Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I wish he did.”
“I had many friends in that tragedy,” Mr. Trump added, calling the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, “worse than Pearl Harbor.”
Mr. Trump, the GOP front-runner for president, is attacking the former president as he campaigns for his brother, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, ahead of the Feb. 20 primary in South Carolina.
It is a risky strategy for Mr. Trump, who has defied conventional wisdom but risks alienating conservatives still fond of President Obama’s Republican predecessor.
Mr. Trump said that Jeb Bush is wrong when he says his brother kept the U.S. secure and that he waffled too long in deciding whether to say the Iraq war was a mistake.
Mr. Trump said he was against the war from the start — even if the chronicle doesn’t outline his position very well, because he was in the private sector.
“I was against it. Look, I’m the most militaristic person,” Mr. Trump said. “I’m going to build the military bigger, better, stronger — hopefully we’ll never have to use it, but nobody’s going to mess with us. But I will say this, the war in Iraq, it was a mistake.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.