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This exchange started when Trump turns to Bush and says "your brother's administration is what got Obama elected".
Bush then turns toward Trump and says "there's one thing you can say about my brother, he kept us all safe".
Trump then said nothing.
If I had been Trump, this is how I would have replied to that: "Sonny, because your brother invaded and occupied Iraq, with the career politicians of both parties aiding and abetting him, our country is now in a quagmire in the middle east which our foreign policy will likely never be able to recover from. Your brother should have listened to his puppetmaster. But not listened to what he was saying in 2002. But instead your brother should have been listening to that same puppetmaster when he told us all this in 1992". And then I would have quoted the puppetmaster: "I think if we we're going to remove Saddam Hussein we would have had to go all the way to Baghdad, we would have to commit a lot of force because I do not believe he would wait in the Presidential Palace for us to arrive. I think we'd have had to hunt him down. And once we'd done that and we'd gotten rid of Saddam Hussein and his government, then we'd have had to put another government in its place. What kind of government? Should it be a Sunni government or Shi'i government or a Kurdish government or Ba'athist regime? Or maybe we want to bring in some of the Islamic fundamentalists? How long would we have had to stay in Baghdad to keep that government in place? What would happen to the government once U.S. forces withdrew? How many casualties should the United States accept in that effort to try to create clarity and stability in a situation that is inherently unstable? I think it is vitally important for a President to know when to use military force. I think it is also very important for him to know when not to commit U.S. military force. And it's my view that the President (Poppy Bush) got it right both times, that it would have been a mistake for us to get bogged down in the quagmire inside Iraq."
As I said, on that one point, Trump dropped the ball.
Bush then turns toward Trump and says "there's one thing you can say about my brother, he kept us all safe".
Trump then said nothing.
If I had been Trump, this is how I would have replied to that: "Sonny, because your brother invaded and occupied Iraq, with the career politicians of both parties aiding and abetting him, our country is now in a quagmire in the middle east which our foreign policy will likely never be able to recover from. Your brother should have listened to his puppetmaster. But not listened to what he was saying in 2002. But instead your brother should have been listening to that same puppetmaster when he told us all this in 1992". And then I would have quoted the puppetmaster: "I think if we we're going to remove Saddam Hussein we would have had to go all the way to Baghdad, we would have to commit a lot of force because I do not believe he would wait in the Presidential Palace for us to arrive. I think we'd have had to hunt him down. And once we'd done that and we'd gotten rid of Saddam Hussein and his government, then we'd have had to put another government in its place. What kind of government? Should it be a Sunni government or Shi'i government or a Kurdish government or Ba'athist regime? Or maybe we want to bring in some of the Islamic fundamentalists? How long would we have had to stay in Baghdad to keep that government in place? What would happen to the government once U.S. forces withdrew? How many casualties should the United States accept in that effort to try to create clarity and stability in a situation that is inherently unstable? I think it is vitally important for a President to know when to use military force. I think it is also very important for him to know when not to commit U.S. military force. And it's my view that the President (Poppy Bush) got it right both times, that it would have been a mistake for us to get bogged down in the quagmire inside Iraq."
As I said, on that one point, Trump dropped the ball.
