Jeb Bush has been trying to regain a foothold in the Republican primary by positioning himself as Donald Trump’s toughest critic. | Getty Jeb Bush: Trump's potty mouth helps Clinton

BERLIN, N.H. — Jeb Bush blasted Donald Trump’s off-color comments about Hillary Clinton, telling reporters he has stretched the limits of political incorrectness too far and threatens to allow the likely Democratic nominee to play the victim.

“Just imagine him as president at a press conference,” Bush said when asked about Trump’s comments following a town hall here Tuesday afternoon. “There has to be a level of decorum to win. It’s not a sign of strength to insult people with profanity. It’s not a serious thing.”


Trump, whose willingness to break conventions of political decorum has seemed only to fuel his rise, made his most vulgar comment of the campaign yet in Michigan Monday night when he described Hillary Clinton’s 2008 defeat in a manner more befitting a Penthouse letter.

“She was favored to win, and she got schlonged,” Trump said to the delight of his 7,500 supporters who attended his rally in Grand Rapids.

Bush, who has been trying to regain a foothold in a topsy-turvy GOP primary by positioning himself as Trump’s toughest critic, blasted the Manhattan mogul on a number of policy points during the town hall but did not address the comments about Clinton until asked about them during a gaggle with reporters afterwards.

He said Trump’s comments actually help Clinton.

“She’s great at being the victim,” Bush said. “This will enhance her victimology status. This is what she loves doing. Trump is not going to be president because he says these things, it turns people off. For crying out loud, we’re two days before Christmas. Lighten up, man.”

Asked to clarify his comment about Clinton, Bush told reporters, "I'm saying that she will use this in a way that won't be helpful to our cause."

Clinton’s campaign opted not to respond to Trump, aside from a tweet from communications director Jennifer Palmieri that said, “We are not responding to Trump but everyone who understands the humiliation this degrading language inflicts on all women should."

Trump, whose comments about Clinton — be it about her pantsuits or close relationship with aide Huma Abedin — often carry a chauvinistic, anti-gay undertone, also mocked Clinton for being late returning to the debate stage last Saturday night due to a bathroom break.

“I know where she went — it’s disgusting, I don’t want to talk about it,” he said.

Trump, who first drew scorn from women on both sides of the aisle for crass comments in August about Fox News Channel’s Megyn Kelly having “blood coming out of her … whatever,” has yet to pay a significant political price for his off-color and impolitic comments. In fact, his rare willingness to offend people’s sensitivities has only seemed to rally more disaffected conservatives to his side. (Trump did, however, say he was referring to Kelly's nose.)

Bush continues to lag far behind Trump in national polls and here in New Hampshire, the early state where he needs a strong finish to propel him deeper into the primary. But unlike Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and others ahead of him, Bush, along with John Kasich, is looking to channel the GOP establishment’s frustration with Trump into broader support.

“I just think he’s going to create an environment where we lose the presidency. He’s not going to be president, and he’ll do damage to the conservative cause. And we need to take a stand,” Bush said. “And for some odd reason, I’m the only guy willing to do it.”

During his town hall inside a community college auto body shop here Tuesday afternoon, Bush excoriated Trump for being “wrong” on a range of subjects, from Vladimir Putin to Hillary Clinton. After asserting that Trump doesn’t understand the Middle East and that his proposed ban on Muslims would make it harder for the U.S. to maintain alliances in the fight against ISIL, Bush stopped short.

“I promise I won’t talk about Trump again,” he said.

He kept that promise — for less than three minutes.