Republican contender Jeb Bush said Sunday his rival Donald Trump is “scary,” but refrained from joining recent accusations that the billionaire businessman is fascist.
“I just think he’s uninformed,” Bush said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “He knows what he’s saying, he’s smart, he’s playing you guys in the press like a fiddle.”
Bush, currently fifth in the Washington Examiner‘s presidential power rankings, said Trump has flip-flopped among wrong positions on all sorts of issues, including the Syrian refugee crisis and terrorism by the Islamic State.
“The simple fact is he’s been wrong on Syria and the refugrees pretty consistently and no one’s holding him to account — back and forth it goes,” Bush said. “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] Assad. Back and forth it goes. And the net effect of this is in these really serious times he’s not a serious leader.”
Bush said that at first, he wanted to give Trump “the benefit of the doubt,” but has since decided Trump is “not a serious candidate.”
“He’s all over the map … misinformed at best and preying on people’s fears at worst,” Bush said. “I’m pretty confident the more they hear of him, the less likely he’s going to get the nomination.”
Bush has contined to struggle to gain a foothold in his race against Trump for the GOP nomination. Polling shows Trump has slipped somewhat in the last week, but he still holds the support of about one-third of Republican voters. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson still holds the second-place slot.
Meanwhile, Bush is trailing in polls just behind Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, with around 7 percent support.
