There is a difference between "going to a big rally and being entertained and electing a president," GOP candidate Jeb Bush commented in a weekend interview, but admitted that Americans are "frustrated for a good reason."
"Across the spectrum of government, it's not working and the federal government is worse and we have a president that uses powers the Constitution hasn't given him and people are angry about that," the former Florida governor told
MSNBC's "Morning Joe" co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski in an interview taped during the Kemp Forum on Expanding Opportunity event in South Carolina and aired on their show Monday.
At the same time, Bush said, there are two kinds of "universes," one being the "[Donald] Trump universe that garners most of the attention on the media and all the different outlets, and then there's the town hall meetings, and people who are actually curious about your views on Social Security and education or the challenges of a small business."
And that, Bush said, makes him feel "much better that real people are actually concerned about real issues. So it's not all lost. I think policy still matters."
Bush said he's noticed that the crowds coming out to see him have doubled, and there seems to be more excitement.
"I'm an optimist by nature," said Bush, and he's trying not to be distracted.
A few weeks ago, though, Bush had commented that Trump "better" learn about the nuclear triad "if he's going to be president," but in the MSNBC interview, he said he "made a mistake, if I said that . . . he's not going to be president."
"If he's aspiring to the presidency, the dude ought to try to figure out what the nuclear triad is," Bush said.
A couple of days after the test, Trump's response was "let the Chinese handle it," Bush continued, on the same day that the front-runner had called for a 45 percent tariff on Chinese exports.
"No, I don't think we should let the Chinese deal with it," said Bush. "If they have the capability of launching a hydrogen or nuclear bomb to hit the West Coast, I think that's our responsibility."
Bush also spoke out about President Barack Obama's reactions to events in the Middle East, including his failure to stand behind ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
"This is not how America should lead," said Bush, commenting that when former President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger brought Egypt under the security umbrella of the United States, it was a success and we've abandoned it."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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