Jeb Bush has not had the campaign he wanted. The prodigal son of the Republican Establishment was expected to cruise to an easy victory in the Republican field, through his name recognition, policy sincerity, and bipartisan appeal. However, the former frontrunner has been upstaged by billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump. Trump, whose kickoff speech brought the issue of illegal immigration to the forefront of the race for the Republican nomination, has been an inexorable thorn in Bush's side as he frequently criticizes the candidate for being "low energy." Further, it seems Trump has earned more popularity in the party through his proposal to deport 11 million illegal immigrants, and to build a wall with Mexico to be paid for by the Mexican government. This sharply contrast the rhetoric and policy plans of Bush, who supports a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already living in the United States, and has called illegal immigration an "act of love." Jeb Bush has strongly come out against Donald Trump's plans, and tried to present his own vision of America, but has ultimately failed to unseat the outlandish frontrunner thus far. However, it appears that despite all the vitriol between the two candidates, Bush would still rather see Donald Trump in the White House than Hillary Clinton.
Jeb Bush stopped by CBS's Face The Nation, to discuss the issues with Donald Trump's candidacy, and his vow to support Trump if he were to win the nomination. He began by stating, "Look, I just think he's uninformed. He knows what he's saying. He's smart. He's playing you guys like a fiddle, the press, by saying outrageous things and garnering attention. That's his strategy, is to dominate the news. The simple fact is that he's been wrong on Syria and on the refugees pretty consistently. And no one's holding him to account. He first said we had no interest in being involved in Syria. And then he said let the Russians take out ISIS. And then he said let ISIS take out [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad. Back and forth it goes. And the net effect of this is - in these really serious times, he's not a serious leader."
However, when asked why he would support someone he has so frequently criticized, Bush responded, "Because anybody is better than Hillary Clinton. Let me just be clear about that. But I have great doubts about Donald Trump's ability to be commander in chief. I really do. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt to see how the campaign unfolded. But if you listen to him talk, it's kind of scary, to be honest with you, because he's not a serious candidate. He doesn't talk about the issues at hand that are of national security importance for our country. To keep us safe is the first priority of the president. And he's all over the map, misinformed at best and preying on people's fears at worst."
