Republican front-runner Donald Trump hit back at Jeb Bush on Wednesday when the former Florida governor suggested he might not endorse the real estate mogul, should he become the party's nominee for the 2016 presidential general election.
"I really don’t want Jeb’s endorsement, because he is a low-energy person and he does not represent strength, power and stamina, which are qualities our country desperately needs," Trump said in a statement to The Washington Post.
The newest clash came when Bush and his team looked into the potential repercussions, legal and procedural, should he not endorse Trump if he becomes the party's nominee, Politico reported. The move came just after the two battled on stage Tuesday evening at the Republican party's fifth debate, during which Bush referred to Trump as a "chaos candidate" who "can't insult [his] way to the presidency."
Although Trump might have been the big winner of the debate according to unscientific Internet polls, he said he was just responding to "dishonorable" attacks made by Bush.
"While everyone said I beat him last night, I was only responding to his desperate attempt to stay relevant by attacking me," the statement to The Washington Post read. "Jeb is only doing this because I committed to run as a Republican last night - so dishonorable."
Trump reiterated his position on Bush's unwillingness to to endorse him during a rally Wednesday in Mesa, Ariz. “I don’t care if a guy like Jeb Bush never endorses me,” he told supporters, CBS News reported. "It wouldn’t bother me at all. I think it’s a negative."
On Wednesday, conservative radio show host Rush Limbaugh suggested that Trump could use Bush's lack of endorsement to reverse course on his pledge at Tuesday night's debate that he would stay in the Republican field and not run as an independent, as previously reported by HNGN.com.
“Let's say that if Jeb gets out, and if when he gets out he says, ‘I'm not gonna support Trump. I will not support him in a Republican Party nomination.’ Well, that could give Trump grounds to say, ‘Yeah, I've always predicated this on being treated fairly and being supported. If that's gonna happen, then screw you guys,’” Limbaugh said, reported Politico. “I mean, I could see that happening, if Jeb or other powerful figures in the Republican Party publicly claim that they're gonna split the scene."
