Jeb Bush: Trump’s rise reflects ‘deep frustration’

Jeb Bush on Friday acknowledged that Donald Trump has tapped into “deep frustration” among the public, but predicted Trump’s current prominence at the top of the polls will ultimately “succeed or fail based on his proposals.”

In an interview with “NBC Nightly News,” the former Florida governor and current presidential candidate told anchor Lester Holt that he was “surprised that Donald Trump has surged.” Bush added, “I think he’s captured the deep frustration that people feel, I mean I get that.”

{mosads}But Bush, who has criticized Trump for describing some illegal immigrants as criminals and rapists, said Trump will ultimately be measured by the policy proposals he puts forward to address the issues that he has brought to the fore.

“I get the lack of rule of law, the sanctuary cities, the open borders, all those — he’s in very graphic way, appealed to people’s anger about those things,” Bush said. “I think it’s important to be respectful of that, make the case we can fix these things, and over time, the Trump phenomenon will either succeed or fail based on his proposals.”

Many Republicans have criticized Trump for dodging specifics of what he stands for. The Trump campaign has said his policy proposals will be laid out on the candidate’s own terms, and that his team won’t be dictated to by pressure from the media or others in the race.

Trump has ridden a wave of media attention to the top of the Republican polls nationally, as well as in the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire.