Donald Trump's attack on former President George W. Bush during Saturday's debate will hurt him in the South Carolina primary on Saturday, The Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol told
Newsmax TV on Wednesday.
"I guess he doesn't like the Bush family," Kristol told "The Steve Malzberg Show" in an interview. "He doesn't like W. That's all fair enough.
"God knows, it's fair enough to oppose the Iraq War or oppose it after the fact," he added. "But to say that Bush lied us into war and Bush's whole team did, that's Michael Moore territory.
"That's caused a lot of second thoughts among South Carolinians who are otherwise open to or supportive of Trump."
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However, Kristol predicted to Malzberg that the top three finishers on Saturday will be Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.
"I kind of think they'll all be in their 20s. It'll be a closer result than people expect. If that's the case, we have a real three-way race on our hands."
Therefore, Jeb Bush "gets out if he's just in single digits and [John] Kasich really won't compete much on March 1," Kristol said. "I assume [Ben] Carson gets out.
"If Trump wins 37 and the next person is Cruz at 18 or something, that's pretty impressive. If you win New Hampshire and South Carolina by 18 points each or something, you're certainly the leading candidate.
"It doesn't mean it's over, but you're certainly the favorite."
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