Team Jeb poll-tested 'W kept us safe' line

In his continuing effort to reconcile himself with his brother’s legacy, Jeb Bush used the Republican debate at the Reagan Library to unveil his argument that, whatever the problems of George W. Bush’s White House years, he kept the country safe. “As it relates to my brother, there’s one thing I know for sure,” Bush said. “He kept us safe.”

That was Sept. 16. On Oct. 16, Donald Trump did an interview with Bloomberg in which he challenged Bush’s assertion. “When you talk about George Bush, I mean, say what you want, the World Trade Center came down during his time … He was president, OK? Don’t blame him or don’t blame him, but he was president. The World Trade Center came down during his reign.”