Trump smashing...

Bush rips Trump in Spanish and English

By Marc Caputo

The joyful tortoise turned into the snapping turtle Tuesday.

Jeb Bush, who once likened himself to a happy version of the plodding land turtle in Aesop’s fables, dispensed with the fairy-tale niceties during a Tuesday campaign stop in Miami where he lashed out at Donald Trump in his most aggressive, personal and bilingual way yet.

“He attacks me every day — he personalizes everything," Bush said to a Spanish-language reporter, in a sign that Trump’s criticisms of his vigor are getting to the former Florida governor."If you’re not totally in agreement with him, you’re an ‘idiot,’ you’re ‘stupid,’ you have ‘low energy,’ blah, blah, blah. That’s what he does.”

Asked if the campaign was getting personal, Bush told an English-speaking reporter: “It’s all personal for him, sure — mischaracterizations of my views, longstanding views. I’ve written a book about it. If he was interested in actually knowing my views, he could read the book. And he would know that I’m for border security and in a practical way that won’t cost hundreds of billions of dollars like what he’s proposed.”

Bush’s comments in English were less colorful than the ones in Spanish, in part because of the nature of the languages themselves. For instance, regarding Trump’s attacks against him, Bush used a Spanish word for “outrages” that literally translates into English as “barbarities.”

Other reasons Bush might have been more expansive in Spanish: He took fewer questions in English, and he appears more guarded with the national English-speaking press.

Earlier in the day, Bush’s campaign released a web-ad video mash-up of Trump over the years praising universal health care and Hillary Clinton, and saying at one point that he’s more of a Democrat. The ad and Bush’s aggressive posture at the press conference Tuesday are part of a strategy to help make the presidential contest a two-man race with Trump.

Bush’s effort has yet to pay dividends. He has fallen in Republican polls of the nation, Iowa and New Hampshire while Dr. Ben Carson, a nonpolitician like Trump, has risen to the No. 2 slot nationally and in Iowa. A third nonpolitician in the Republican field, Carly Fiorina, is also rising.

The rise of the nonpoliticians indicates the tone of the Republican race might have shifted from its governors-versus-senators theme to a contest between politicians and nonpoliticians.

In a national Republican voter survey Monday from Public Policy Polling, the three nonpoliticians were beating the politicians 52-45 percent, with 3 percent undecided. In PPP’s survey last week of New Hampshire, the nonpoliticians led 51-45 percent, with 4 percent undecided. And in a Monday Iowa poll from Monmouth University, it was 56-39 percent, with 5 percent undecided.

Trump has sought to cast the campaign as insiders versus outsiders, a theme he emphasized Tuesday when he answered Bush’s attacks.

“Jeb is spending millions of dollars on ‘hit’ ads funded by lobbyists & special interests. Bad system,” Trump said on Twitter. “Yet another weak hit by a candidate with a failing campaign. Will Jeb sink as low in the polls as the others who have gone after me?”

Bush isn’t spending all of his time focusing on Trump. His Tuesday campaign stop was held at La Progresiva Presbyterian School in Miami, where many of the students are able to pay the cost of their education thanks to voucher-like scholarships under a program Bush pushed as governor.

In a question-and-answer session with the teenage students, Bush talked about his views on gun violence (he believes Washington can’t solve it, that it’s a mental health issue); his favorite food (Mexican, especially from El Wapo Taco in Coral Gables); and whether he supports a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants (he doesn’t, but backs a pathway to permanent residency for many).

Speaking to reporters afterward, Bush was testier in going after Trump and in responding to reporters’ questions.

Bush backers believe Trump hasn’t been challenged enough by the press, and his campaign expects Trump will fade as voters learn more about him. Those associated with the other politicians’ campaigns are happy to let Bush tangle with Trump, because both run the risk of losing ground. And with Bush out of the way, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, John Kasich or other candidates in the middle of the pack hope they can make their move.

“Jeb is making a big mistake in the way he’s taking on Trump,” said one Rubio supporter. “Don’t get me wrong, Trump deserves it. But, as the old saying goes: don’t wrestle a pig. You get dirty and the pig likes it.”

But Bush’s backers say someone needs to speak out about Trump’s record of backing Democrats and liberal causes.

“What we’ve put out is a simple statement in his own words,” Bush said. “I mean, his own words. His own words that a single payer system was a great idea. Well, while most conservatives find that perhaps to be the worst idea — that he has supported higher taxes. I’ve cut taxes every year. That he’s pro-choice. I’ve been consistently and, in a loving way, pro-life. If you look at his record and what he believes, he supports Democrats. While I was campaigning for Republicans in this state and all across the country — conservative, reform-minded candidates — he was supporting Hillary Clinton and thinks Hillary Clinton would be a good negotiator as it relates to dealing with Iran.”

“This is a not guy who’s a conservative and using his own words is not a mischaracterization,” Bush said, pivoting to address the accuracy of his web ads, which weren’t questioned by reporters. “They came out of his own mouth.”

Though Bush’s campaign says it wants to talk Trump, the candidate has indicated he’d prefer to discuss other issues as well. When asked by a POLITICO reporter if he’d like to answer a “non-Trump” question, Bush said “I’d love to.”

But the love quickly faded because the question concerned Bush’s insistence on using the term “anchor babies” to describe children born in the United States who get automatic citizenship, even if their parents aren’t citizens or are even illegal immigrants. Not only do immigrants-rights groups find the phrase offensive, so did the Hispanic Leadership Network that Bush co-chaired in 2013, when it specifically warned Republicans not to use the phrase because it offends some Latinos.

“It’s been used a long time. I wasn’t aware of that memo. I was a volunteer, co-chairman,” Bush said. “Look, we can be politically correct about these things. Here’s my record: I think that birthright citizenship is embedded in the Constitution of the United States. I’ve consistently said that ... it’s like, chill out, man. I mean, c’mon. Let’s just take a deep breath and recognize that I’ve had a consistent view on these subjects.”

Asked by another reporter about a POLITICO report concerning recent departures of three fundraisers and potential fundraising troubles, Bush said, “Nope. I had a great — I had a great fundraiser last night. I did seven fundraisers last week. I promise you that when you look at the results on September 30th, that we will be fine. You just read that in POLITICO.”