Jeb Bush responds to Donald Trump’s ‘sleeping’ attack ad

Dylan Stableford
·Senior Writer
Updated

Republican frontrunner Donald Trump amped up his criticism of GOP rival Jeb Bush as a “low energy” candidate, releasing a video mocking the former Florida governor’s recent rally where a woman appeared to fall asleep as he spoke.

“Having trouble sleeping at night? Too much energy? Need some low energy?” asks the narrator of the video, posted to Trump’s Instagram feed Tuesday, before a tagline appears: “Jeb, for all your sleeping needs.”

On Wednesday, Bush defended his supporter-in-slumber, saying she had woken up at 4 a.m. that day in order to drop her child off at daycare before working a 12-hour shift.

“She’s a big supporter of mine,” Bush told “Fox & Friends.”

After the Sept. 3 event, Bush even tweeted a photo with the woman, identified as Tara, saying he was in “awe of working moms” like her.

“Look, Donald Trump’s not going to get elected president by disparaging people, by attacking people all the time,” Bush said on Wednesday. “That’s not how you win — you lift people’s spirits up to be president of the United States.”

But Bush isn’t above attacking Trump, either.

Shortly after the real estate mogul’s video ad was posted, Bush fired back with his own Instagram video highlighting a 2007 interview in which Trump said Hillary Clinton would “do a good job” negotiating a deal with Iran.

“She’s always surrounded herself with good people,” Trump told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer at the time.

Bush said his quick response to Trump’s ad was part of a necessary new strategy.

“At some point if you’re being defined by a guy who can just make a phone call and get on the talk shows all the time and all he does is disparage you, yeah, you’ve got to fight back,” Bush said on Fox. “But my message is one of hope and optimism, not that the world is coming to an end.”

In an appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” Tuesday night, Bush prepped for next week’s CNN debate by practicing what Colbert called “Trumpier” responses to policy questions.

“I will build a wall between the United States and Iran — and make Mexico pay for it,” Bush said, reading off of a teleprompter. “Trucks are strong. I will turn the National Mall into a luxury golf course — and China will respect that. I promise to put Meatloaf on the $10 bill. And give Lil Jon a Cabinet position, which will send the message that this country will never — turn down for what?”