Jeb Bush: Trump a ‘distraction in and of himself’

Former Florida governor and onetime GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush said Sunday that President Trump is making life a little more difficult for himself.

In an interview with Jim DeFede for “Facing South Florida” that aired Sunday, Bush said Trump “should stop saying things that aren’t true, that are distractions from the task at hand.”

“He’s a distraction in and of himself,” he said. “He’s got a lot of work to do, and some of these things — the wiretapping and all of this stuff — is a complete distraction that makes it harder to accomplish the things I know he wants to do.”

{mosads}When asked if incidents such as the tweet in which Trump accused President Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower tarnish the office of the president, Bush replied, “A little bit.”

He said Trump “hasn’t shifted to being president in the way that people are used to, and I think that’s the problem.”

But he also offered praised for the president — whom he says he hasn’t spoke to since the inauguration — on his Cabinet picks of John Kelly, Betsy DeVos and Rex Tillerson.

“The president made some really good appointments,” Bush told “Facing South Florida” about the secretaries of Homeland Security, Education and State, respectively. 

“He’s acted decisively on some areas I think are important, particularly on the regulatory side.”

When asked about his own political future, Bush said he won’t “rule out anything” but noted he’s happy right now as a private citizen.

He said he didn’t regret his 2016 presidential bid but felt his personality didn’t resonate with voters.

“Reasoning, in this environment where people are angry, is hard, and I wasn’t capable of giving them a sense that there is a better path,” he said.

He also said voters are picking “their news to validate what they believe, and it makes them increasingly less tolerant of other people’s views that rely on another set of facts,” he said. “That is dangerous for our democracy.”