U.S. Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said Republican front-runner Donald Trump will “get wiped out in the general election” at a Council on Foreign Relations event in New York on Tuesday (January 19).
“There’s the lack of seriousness, at least by the front-running candidate that, I wouldn’t know what his policies are, but when he doesn’t know what the nuclear triad is, that’s cause for pause,” Bush said.
“Someone who proposes a 45 percent tariff across the board on China, it’s not a serious proposal. It’s basically the advocacy of a global depression that will wipe out the middle class in this country and see retaliation that will create, will wreak havoc. I’m the only guy confronting this. I’m the only guy confronting this because people are anxious about their future. They’ve latched onto the large personality on the stage, but the reality is that he’s not a serious candidate. And he’ll get wiped out in the general election. You can’t keep us safe by talking trash without backing it up with serious plans.”
Bush criticized U.S. President Barack Obama’s handling of the Islamic State threat and offered his plan on defeating Islamic State militants by forming alliances with Muslim nations in the region.
“He talks about not having boots on the ground, but now we’ve gone, after he eliminated the number of the troops altogether in Iraq, now we have 3,500 troops. He talks about not having boots on the ground,” Bush said.
“I don’t know what’s the difference between a special operator’s boot and a combat troop, but those are boots on the ground. And they’re in Syria. This is not how we lead. This creates a lack of certainty that we’re not going to garner the support in the Arab world. And then you add on this, the Iranian deal, which he heralds as a great success, which makes it harder for us to be able to mobilize the necessary support in the Sunni Arab world to be able to support a Sunni-led army in Syria that ultimately has to be the entity that takes out ISIS.”
Bush had previously said he would support some Syrian refugees coming into the United States but stressed the screening must be tough to ensure no Islamic State militants enter the country.
The Syrian refugee crisis is dividing American politicians, given the choice between yielding to fears of importing terrorists or honoring the United States’ traditional welcoming role. Candidates have been debating all year what to do about 11 million illegal immigrants already in the country.
“This refugee crisis is, has been created principally by the barrel bombing of innocents by the most brutal regime in the world, supported by Iran, which, this is why I find this agreement so disturbing,” Bush said.
“Two hundred fifty thousand, at a minimum, people have died. Four million people are in refugee camps. And it creates a situation where we have a breeding ground, that if we don’t deal with this in relatively short order, we’re going to create real problems for the rest of the world. So I think it’s, I think it’s an important part of who we are that we have consistently been supportive of refugees around the world. But in this particular case I think it’s, we have to be careful that the process of filtering these folks out includes this new threat that I’ve never heard existed before.”
Bush also stressed an education reform plan that would take much decision-making away from the federal government and give it to state and local school authorities.
“Wherever possible, we need to shift power away from Washington, whether it’s our, the student loan program, which I’ve proposed eliminating going forward and moving to an income repayment system that would save money and also take away power from Washington, D.C., or a welfare reform program that lifts people out of poverty as its objective rather than traps people,” he said.
“If you want to get people out of poverty to grow income, which then the government then could receive the receipts of, you need to promote marriage, promote work, and promote education.”
Bush focused on education during his two terms as Florida governor and later as head of an education foundation. National polls show Bush is trailing far behind the Republican presidential front-runners. (Reuters)