Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump seems more keen on Russian President Vladimir Putin than former President George W. Bush, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Sunday, defending his brother’s legacy ahead of a pivotal South Carolina primary.
Speaking on CNN, Jeb Bush said Mr. Trump “would not be the proper nominee for our party.”
The pair have been at each other’s throats of late, with Mr. Trump saying George W. Bush didn’t keep America safe on Sept. 11, 2001, while Jeb Bush lambasted the real estate mogul as a closet liberal with an affinity for Mr. Putin’s leadership qualities.
“He’s not a conservative. He’s not a serious person,” Mr. Bush said of Mr. Trump. “His conversations in debates, when he talks about foreign policy, it’s scary.”
Mr. Bush will appear with his older brother, the 43rd president, at a campaign event Monday in the Palmetto State, where voters could winnow the GOP field on Feb. 20.
He said it was the time to get his brother off the sidelines, though George W. Bush has given him advice and helped him fundraise, because people are watching now and the race is heating up.
“He knows what it takes to be a president of the United States, to be commander in chief, to keep the country safe, and that he believes that I have those skills, based on my record and based on how he knows me,” Jeb Bush said. “And that will be an incredible validator in South Carolina, where values matter and where national defense matters a lot.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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