On the stump at the Hanover Inn in New Hampshire, Jeb Bush was apparently expecting a thunderous round of applause after a passionate speech about how he would protect the country as commander-in-chief.
“I won’t be out here blowharding, talking a big game without backing it up,” he asserted — but, then, was met with total silence.
“Please clap,” he said, sounding defeated, reports the New York Times. After enjoying a laugh, the crowd complied with applause.
The report indicates Bush aggressively challenged Donald Trump, whom Bush frames as a bully with “deep insecurity and weakness” in a new ad.
Bush also attempted to have his listeners question Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio during a speech at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, New Hampshire.
“If you look at their records, they’re gifted in how they speak, but what about their life experience?” Bush asked the crowd as he likened the two senators to President Obama, who also was elected president after less than four years in the Senate. “Is there something in their past that would suggest they have the capability of making a tough decision?”
Bush finished in sixth place in the Iowa caucuses.