Jeb Bush and Donald Trump have traded blows for months on the presidential campaign trail. Bush’s supporters have sought to portray the former reality television star as a “chaos candidate” and have released a new ad wishing Trump a “Happy Anniversary.”
The Bush campaign is noting that Friday “is the seven year anniversary of Donald Trump praising President Obama and Hillary Clinton on strategy and policy.” The ad shows text onscreen that marks the occasion, as a clip from Trump’s interview with CNN from Dec. 18, 2008, plays in the background.
“How do you think Barack Obama is doing right now not only in terms of some of the strategy of the policies he’s outlining, but in terms of the appointments he’s made?” CNN’s Wolf Blitzer can be heard asking.
“I think he’s doing great. I think Hillary is a great appointment,” Trump answers. “I think he’s doing a great job.”
The soundbites come from a longer interview with Blitzer in 2008, during which Trump also celebrated the appointment of Lisa Jackson to administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Jackson is not a favorite of conservative GOP primary voters, as she came under fire for using a secret identity in a personal email account while serving as head of the EPA.
But Trump’s past statements — including those that are controversial or contradict later comments — have had little impact on the performance of his presidential candidacy thus far. With fewer than 50 days remaining until the first GOP nominating contest begins, Trump maintains a 29 percentage point lead over Bush in RealClearPolitics’ average of national polls. Trump ranks second in the Washington Examiner‘s newest GOP presidential power rankings.
