Media troll Bush over his gun tweet

The tweeted photo, which went out late Tuesday afternoon, bore a simple caption: “America.”

The response from the press has been a mixture of fury, shock, concern and mockery, but mostly mockery.

“Jeb’s campaign had to decide between a gun selfie or him making out with a bald eagle,” said CNBC’s Joshua Brown.

The New York Daily News’ Josh Greenman added, “Why did Jeb tweet a picture of his gun and not a picture of the gun tattoo across his chest?”

The Huffington Post’s Nick Wing said, “Jeb! is such an genuine manly man. Drops the glasses, gets a gun. What’s next? Big ass belt buckle?”

The Washington Post’s Alexandra Petri added in reference to Bush’s sagging poll numbers, “[S]adly the gun with Jeb Bush engraved on it is already polling better than he is in South Carolina.”

New York magazine’s Jesse Singal meanwhile started into his own monologue, which began with him saying, “‘Hey, so this is awkward but I’m actually a staunch Democrat. I mean, as a gay man I sort of have to be.’ – Jeb’s gun.”

He continued, “[that feeling when] you missed jeb’s gun dropping on twitter and are forced to catch up on jokes 8 hours later … Once Jeb’s gun broke off from his campaign and announced its own run, Jeb couldn’t overcome the personality gap … HELLO I AM JEBGUN I AM THE REAL CANDIDATE GIVE ME VOTES OR I SHOOT ALL OF AMERICA JEB IS MY VEEP.”

The firearm featured in Bush’s tweet was made in the United States by a Belgian-owned gun manufacturer, which did not go unnoticed this week by sharp-eyed pundits and reporters.

“Maybe Jeb can fire his Belgian gun at the boat Rubio’s commercial is taking to Vancouver,” said Commentary’s John Podhoretz.

Fortune magazine’s Will Federman added, “Sorry, Jeb––If America was a gun, it wouldn’t be a French firearm with the name of the least popular Bush engraved on it.”

Others in media wondered about the fact that Bush’s name was inscribed on the barrel of the gun.

“If I said there was a gun out there with Jeb Bush’s name on it, I’d be arrested for threatening him,” the Financial Times’ Josh Spero cautiously joked.

But it was mostly just mockery for the 2016 GOP presidential candidate.

“Jeb posting the gun is the equivalent of sending yourself a valentine in the hopes of making somebody else jealous,” said Mother Jones’ Clara Jeffery.

Deadspin’s Greg Howard added, “Jeb might actually get some votes off tweeting a photo of a gun which feels like the best argument for why no one should be able to own guns.”

“Can’t stop laughing at how much of a savage Jeb has to be to etch his name on a gun and then tweet its photo to 469k followers plus his mom,” he said.

The mockery did not go unnoticed, and several newsrooms reported this week that Bush’s gun tweet did little else but earn the governor a heaping of scorn and mockery.

“I enjoy target shooting a lot but bragging about your guns in a presidential campaign is kind of weird,” the Verge’s Adi Robertson said on social media.