--- title: Republican Debate: Jeb Bush's Strategist Laughs About Trump Smack description: "That might leave a mark," a top adviser to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush says of the hard low-five during the CNN debate. canonical: https://time.com/4037935/republican-debate-bush-trump-slap/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-17T05:33:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T11:00:28.587Z article:section: Politics og:title: What Bush's Team Thinks of the Trump Smack og:description: "That might leave a mark," a top adviser to Bush says of the hard low-five. og:url: https://time.com/4037935/republican-debate-bush-trump-slap/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08c0a0db5591ff72/698863fba988ca24c56b45f2/jeb-bush-donald-trump-slap.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump (L) 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: What Bush's Team Thinks of the Trump Smack twitter:description: "That might leave a mark," a top adviser to Bush says of the hard low-five. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08c0a0db5591ff72/698863fba988ca24c56b45f2/jeb-bush-donald-trump-slap.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bush Team Laughs About Trump Smack  by [Philip Elliott / Simi Valley, Calif.](/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott / Simi Valley, Calif. Senior Correspondent Sep 17, 2015 5:33 AM CUT  Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump (L) and Jeb Bush take part in the presidential debates at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif., on Sept. 16, 2015. Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump (L) and Jeb Bush take part in the presidential debates at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif., on Sept. 16, 2015.Justin Sullivan—Getty Images  by [Philip Elliott / Simi Valley, Calif.](/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott / Simi Valley, Calif. Senior Correspondent Sep 17, 2015 5:33 AM CUT When Donald Trump put out his hand for a low-five from rival Jeb Bush, the former Florida Governor took his shot to strike the antagonistic billionaire. Even on television, it was clear Wednesday night’s hand slap came with a windup. It has been percolating for weeks, as Trump tweaked Bush for having “low-energy,” a slight that has gotten under Bush’s skin. Asked what his Secret Service code name would be, Bush turned to his codename he earned as Florida Governor from the state emergency management agency. “Eveready,” Bush said, borrowing the name of a battery brand. “It’s very high-energy, Donald.” The audience ate it up. Trump extended his left hand to Bush, who was standing beside him, to acknowledge Bush had won that moment. Video shows Bush biting his lip and going for it, hard. “That might leave a mark,” laughed Bush chief strategist David Kochel. “I watched it and thought, you know, he got a good laugh out of the crowd. He got a laugh out of The Donald. He showed his sense of humor. He closed strong. It’s what we wanted to happen.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4037935/republican-debate-bush-trump-slap/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4037935/republican-debate-bush-trump-slap/"},"headline":"Bush Team Laughs About Trump Smack","datePublished":"2015-09-17T05:33:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:00:28.587Z","description":"'That might leave a mark,' Bush adviser laughs","url":"https://time.com/4037935/republican-debate-bush-trump-slap/","keywords":["Debates","2016 Election topic","jeb bush","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08c0a0db5591ff72/698863fba988ca24c56b45f2/jeb-bush-donald-trump-slap.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Philip Elliott / Simi Valley, Calif."}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08c0a0db5591ff72/698863fba988ca24c56b45f2/jeb-bush-donald-trump-slap.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump (L) and Jeb Bush take part in the presidential debates at the Reagan Library on September 16, 2015 in Simi Valley, California.","caption":"Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump (L) and Jeb Bush take part in the presidential debates at the Reagan Library on September 16, 2015 in Simi Valley, California.","creditText":"Justin Sullivan—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/debates/","name":"Debates"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4037935/republican-debate-bush-trump-slap/","name":"Bush Team Laughs About Trump Smack"}}]}] ```