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Donald Trump, the leading candidate for the Republican nomination, went on a late-night Twitter taunting session against Jeb Bush on Monday, kicking things off with a photo of Jeb picking his nose. Bush's campaign tried to fire back, but Twitter is Trump's domain, and it only served as fuel for the Donald's fire.
The photo itself seems to have been doctored from an old Reuters pic of the former Florida governor. The original picture showed Bush with his finger on his lip.
Trump randomly tweeted the photo, which seems to have come from a follower, without comment.
"@umakemeill: @FoxNews @JebBush @HillaryClinton @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/uI6tmYH5ka"
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2015
But the photo seems to have been Trump's response to Bush's attacks earlier. Jeb attended a lunch at the Forum Club in Palm Beach on Monday. Palm Beach being one of Trump's homes-away-from-home, Bush was asked what he'd say to the Donald if he suddenly walked in on their event.
“Donald, I’ll take you on one-on-one in a debate,
The tough talk seemed to stir Trump, who would end up responding via his followers with the nose-pick photo.
Moments after the photo went up, Trump continued his barrage — again, using his followers as a voice to attack Jeb.
"@sunquist007: @JebBush Why do u keep trying to attack Trump? Really dumb strategy! U lose, he wins! #lets make America great again!!!!!"
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2015
In response, Bush campaign spokesperson Kristy Campbell fired off a tweet, accusing Trump of drunk-tweeting.
Out on Twitter there arose such a clatter, late night twitter-drunk Donald is back at it! https://t.co/yyTfQN3IM8
— Kristy Campbell (@kristymcampbell) December 29, 2015
Trump responded, again using a follower's words, with a joke.
"@LandmanMarius: @realDonaldTrump @russgrand @JebBush Word on street is that @JebBush mother is voting @realDonaldTrump" So cute!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2015
Bush himself has yet to respond via
"Just one more thing," Jeb said. "I gotta get this off my chest. Donald Trump is a jerk."
Jeb has also said that Trump's jokes and attacks only help to serve Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
But no doubt Trump will continue to attack Jeb at every turn, especially through Twitter.
Just last month, Trump used Bush's "Jeb can fix it" slogan to attack.
Jeb's new slogan - "Jeb can fix it". I never thought of Jeb as a crook! Stupid message, the word "fix" is not a good one to use in politics!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 1, 2015
And in October, turned Jeb's defending of his brother's defense of the country against him as well.
Jeb Bush should stop trying to defend his brother and focus on his own shortcomings and how to fix them. Also, Rubio is hitting him hard!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2015
Back in July, Trump went after Jeb's wife in a tweet sent in by a follower who said that Bush was forced to be accepting to illegal aliens because his wife is Mexican. Trump eventually deleted the tweet.
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