On the campaign trail in South Carolina, Jeb Bush struck a sour tone discussing the 2016 presidential election, where he is trailing outsider front-runners businessman Donald Trump and neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

“If this election is about how we’re going to fight to get nothing done, then I don’t any part of it,” Mr. Bush said at a town-hall event on Saturday. “I don’t want to be elected president to sit around and see gridlock just become so dominant that people are literally in decline in their lives. That is not my motivation. I have a lot of really cool things that I can do other than sit around and be miserable listening to people demonize me and me feeling compelled to demonize them. That is a joke. Elect Trump if you want that.”

On Friday, it was reported the former Florida governor was cutting his campaign payroll and shedding some staff as part of an attempt to tighten up his finances and retool his struggling campaign roughly three months out from the start of the nomination race.

Mr. Trump, not missing a beat, came out swinging on Saturday with his own criticism of Mr. Bush.

“Here’s a guy who wants to run our country and he can’t even run his own campaign,” Mr. Trump said at a campaign event in Miami on Saturday. “So, Bush has no money. He’s cutting — he’s meeting today with mommy and daddy, and they’re working on their campaign — they’re working.”

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