Jeb Bush Suggests Donald Trump Is Not a Christian
Bush made the remarks Tuesday.
— -- In the wake of Donald Trump’s endorsement by evangelical leader and Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr., Republican rival Jeb Bush had some strong words for the real estate mogul and his faith, calling him a “flip-flopper."
"Trump views all this not from a position of his faith, he views it all as politics. I think faith goes way beyond politics,” he said to reporters following his campaign rally.
When asked by reporters if Bush thinks that Trump is a Christian, he said that he doesn’t.
“No, I don’t know what he is," he said. "I don’t think he has the kind of relationship he says he has if he can’t explain it any way that shows he is serious about it.”
While Bush admitted that Falwell’s endorsement was good for Trump, he questioned how it came to be.
“For a guy who has stated he has never sought forgiveness, it’s hard to imagine how someone who is a strong believer would embrace that idea. There may be other reasons that Mr Falwell is supporting him,” Bush said.
Bush delivered the commencement address at Liberty University in May and lamented that he hadn’t garnered the endorsement.
Earlier in the day, Bush slammed Trump for changing his abortion views.
With the Iowa caucuses less than a week away, Bush and other candidates, including Sen. Ted Cruz, are increasingly attempting to paint a picture of Trump that could harm his support with evangelical voters, a crucial Republican voting bloc.
A CNN/ORC poll this morning showed that Trump has 39 percent of the support among white evangelicals.
Editor’s Note: Since the original posting of this story, Jeb Bush’s Campaign has reached out to ABC News, saying that Bush’s response of “no” indicated his disagreement with the premise of the question and was not in response to the question as to whether he believes Donald Trump is a Christian.