The feud between GOP frontrunner Donald Trump and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush that erupted again on Friday did not come up in Trump’s rally in Massachusetts Friday evening, but it did pick up afterwards over social media.
Trump led a rally on Friday evening in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, roughly a 45-minute drive from Boston. He did not address comments he had made in an interview with Bloomberg earlier in the day, in which he had said,”When you talk about George Bush, I mean, say what you want, the World Trade Center came down during his time.”
Bush had responded by calling Trump “pathetic” over Twitter and said that his brother had “kept us safe.”
After the event, Trump ignored questions from reporters, but that did not stop him from responding on Twitter later.
In Massachusetts, Trump gave three separate speeches. The first speech was in front of a gymnasium holding nearly 1,000. Then, he walked across the hallway to an overflow room an addressed a cafeteria with almost 800 more supporters.
His fervent crowds showed up even in a traditionally Democratic state. His comments today didn’t seem to dampen the enthusiasm.
“It doesn’t bother me because I think the Bushes have a very different way of approaching politics,” said Diane Boulanger-Prescott, of Haverhill, Massachusetts. “Back in Bush 41’s day, it was more diplomacy. He was a diplomat. Then you graduated to George W. There’s a lot of feeling that we should not have got in that war. I think that having Jeb out there is just too much. I know he was a good governor. Even his mother Barbara Bush agrees.”
Boulanger-Prescott previously volunteered for both Bush’s who became president, as well as former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential bid.
After two indoor speeches, Trump walked outside and delivered a final speech to an outside crowd that a fire marshal said was in the thousands.
Ron Villareale, a 69-year-old Brooklyn native who used to work in construction, dismissed Trump’s comments and said he would vote for him.
“He’s a New York guy. Okay? I get it,” Villareale said. “He’s not scripted. No one is coming up with the words that are coming out of his mouth. This is an honest response. It’s not always perfect. In a normal conversation it never will always be perfect.”
Paul Cote, a 55-year-old who drove from Londonberry, New Hampshire to see the speech, offered a different explanation for Trump’s comments.
“I think sometimes he may speak and doesn’t really think,” Cote said. “H doesn’t think about maybe the ramifications of what he’s saying. Do I agree with everything he says? You know what? I can’t find a candidate I agree with everything they do.”
Cote says he will vote for Trump.
“I think it’s time for a businessman as opposed to a politician to be at the White House.”
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