--- title: Republican Debate: Donald Trump, Jeb Bush Spar Over Spanish description: Republican presidential candidates argued over speaking Spanish on the campaign trail at Wednesday's debate. canonical: https://time.com/4037779/donald-trump-jeb-bush-spanish-debate/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-17T02:34:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:47:06.159Z article:section: Politics og:title: Republican Candidates Spar Over Spanish on the Campaign Trail og:description: "This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish." og:url: https://time.com/4037779/donald-trump-jeb-bush-spanish-debate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte5b5d71ba5e355e6/69886403cf40a8e500c3fbdd/donald-trump-jeb-bush-spanish.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Jeb Bush take part in the presidential debates at the Reagan Library on September 16, 2015 in Simi Valley, California. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Republican Candidates Spar Over Spanish on the Campaign Trail twitter:description: "This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte5b5d71ba5e355e6/69886403cf40a8e500c3fbdd/donald-trump-jeb-bush-spanish.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Republican Candidates Spar Over Spanish on the Campaign Trail > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Sep 17, 2015 2:34 AM UTC  Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Jeb Bush take part in the presidential debates at the Reagan Library on September 16, 2015 in Simi Valley, California. Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Jeb Bush take part in the presidential debates at the Reagan Library on September 16, 2015 in Simi Valley, California.Justin Sullivan—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Sep 17, 2015 2:34 AM UTC Three Republican presidential candidates sparred over whether they should speak Spanish on the campaign trail. Frontrunner Donald Trump was asked about [a comment earlier this month](http://www.people.com/article/donald-trump-jeb-bush-speaking-spanish) in which he argued that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush should “set the example” by speaking English while in the United States. “We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English,” he responded. “We’ve had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish.” Bush spoke next, noting tongue-in-cheek that he’d been speaking English throughout the debate. “The simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish … and they ask me a question in Spanish, I’m going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish,” he said. “Even though they do speak English, and even though they embrace American values.” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio then chimed in, noting that he gives interviews in Spanish as well. “I believe that free enterprise and limited government is the best way to help people who are trying to achieve upward mobility,” he said. “And if they get their news in Spanish, I want them to hear that directly from me. Not from a translator at Univision.” **Read Next:** [_Read the Full Text of the Second Republican Debate_](http://time.com/4037239/second-republican-debate-transcript-cnn/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4037779/donald-trump-jeb-bush-spanish-debate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4037779/donald-trump-jeb-bush-spanish-debate/"},"headline":"Republican Candidates Spar Over Spanish on the Campaign Trail","datePublished":"2015-09-17T02:34:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:47:06.159Z","description":"Republican presidential candidates argued over speaking Spanish on the campaign trail at Wednesday's debate.","url":"https://time.com/4037779/donald-trump-jeb-bush-spanish-debate/","keywords":["Debates","2016 Election","Sen. 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