--- 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: 2026-10-05T08:32:01.560Z 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=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 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=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bush Team Laughs About Trump Smack > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=68061026-3f52-4eca-9a61-81bfc1291e68&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch the Republican Debate In Less than 3 Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): Watch the Republican Debate In Less than 3 Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FZG84mwx.m3u8) (2:44)  _Published 2015-09-17. Watch the top 11 Republican candidates face off during the second GOP debate._  by [Philip Elliott / Simi Valley, Calif.](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott / Simi Valley, Calif. Senior Correspondent Sep 17, 2015 5:33 AM UTC  by [Philip Elliott / Simi Valley, Calif.](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott / Simi Valley, Calif. Senior Correspondent Sep 17, 2015 5:33 AM UTC 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.” ## Transcript [ APPLAUSE ] I never attacked him on his look. And believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. [ LAUGH ] We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. So 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana. But when you challenge the status quo, you make enemies. I made a few. Steve Jobs told me that when he called me the day I was fired. More energy tonight. I like that. Just because he says it doesn't make it true. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. [ MUSIC ] We're fighting ISIS. ISIS wants to fight Syria. Why are we fighting ISIS in Syria? Let them fight each other and pick up the remnants . >> Yes. Having met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him. The single biggest National security threat facing America right now, is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We are stronger when we work with the western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own, I don't think is the right policy. I don't think we need to be rash. I don't think we need to be reckless. And I think we need to leave a lines of communication open. We need to be strong against China. How do we confront Iran? And the first thing that we need to do is to reestablish our commitment to Israel, which has been tattered by this administration. [ MUSIC ] I defunded Planned Parenthood. And I vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, 8 times in New Jersey. We don't want this organization to get funding, and the money oughta be reprogrammed. And for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb, to preserve their body parts [ UNKNOWN ] in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. Well he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro- life governor on this stage. I'd like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important. Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. We need to take the fingerprint of every person. Who comes to this country on a visa, and when they over stay their visa we need to tap them on the shoulder and say, you have over stayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people, it's time for you to go. If we don't seal the border the rest of the stuff really doesn't matter. You're proud of your family just as I am. Correct. To subject my wife into the middle of a raucous. Political conversation was completely inappropriate. And I hope you apologize for that, Donald. But to build a wall and to deport people, half a million a month, would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. [ APPLAUSE ] And the next president of the United States better be someone who understands these issues, and has good judgment about them. ```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":"2026-10-05T08:32:01.560Z","description":"'That might leave a mark,' Bush adviser laughs","url":"https://time.com/4037935/republican-debate-bush-trump-slap/","keywords":["Debates","2016 Election","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"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch the Republican Debate In Less than 3 Minutes","description":"Watch the top 11 Republican candidates face off during the second GOP debate.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/FZG84mwx/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-09-17T04:16:23.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FZG84mwx.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4037935/republican-debate-bush-trump-slap/","duration":"PT2M44S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4037935/republican-debate-bush-trump-slap/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```