Jeb Bush Says Donald Trump Supporters Not ‘A Bunch of Idiots’

During a speech in Amsterdam on Saturday, Jeb Bush repeated familiar criticisms of Donald Trump while also correcting people who have dismissed Trump supporters as “a bunch of idiots.”

“What I fear is that people, kind of looking down their nose, will say the people that are supporting Donald Trump are a bunch of idiots. They’re not. They’re legitimately scared. They’re fearful. They’re not as optimistic for legitimate reasons and there should be respect for that,” Bush said during a speech and panel discussion about American politics, CNN reported. “And on the other side, a similar respect needs to be shown.”

As he often did during his presidential campaign, Bush criticized the presumptive Republican nominee for “preying on people’s angst rather than offering tangible solutions.” Bush has been outspoken about his disapproval of Trump.

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Bush also said Trump has been “phenomenally good” at gaining media coverage.

“He can literally wake up — I have this vision of him in, you know, silk pajamas, with his little slippers on with a ‘T’ on his emblem. He wakes up and he sends out a tweet ripping, you know, someone a new one,” Bush said, according to CNN. “He has been a master at how you get into the media, the new media, the diverse media that exists today in a way that had never been done before.”