Donald Trump has been in the midst of storm of cancelled business partnerships and condemnations from members of his own party in recent days over his comments on undocumented immigrants.
After losing business deals with Univision, Macy’s, and more, Trump turned his focus to his 2016 rival, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, insisting that he is “out of touch” with the American public. In addition, Trump said:
“[Bush] doesn’t understand anything about the border or border security. In fact, Jeb believes illegal immigrants who break our laws when they cross our border come ‘out of love.’”
Then, late at night on the Fourth of July, Trump’s Twitter account posted a quoted tweet from another user to voice frustrations with America’s current immigration policy as well as Bush.
The tweet, which has since been deleted, made a clear reference to Bush’s wife, Columba, who was born in León, Mexico. The tweet read:
“[Jeb Bush] has to like the Mexican illegals because of wife.”
Coincidentally, Trump’s wife Melania is also an immigrant, being born in the now-dissolved Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Kristy Campbell, a spokesperson for the Bush campaign, told IJ:
“It’s not surprising Donald Trump deleted his offensive tweet. As Governor Bush has said, Trump’s comments on immigrants were wholly inappropriate and not reflective of the Republican Party’s views.”
While both candidates have been sparring lately in the press, this has been among the first attacks involving family members and personal lives.
Currently, Bush holds a nearly five percentage point lead over Trump in the RealClearPolitics average of polls.