Jeb Bush Comes Out Swinging Against Donald Trump's Muslim Ban in CNN GOP Debate

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush forcefully attacked Republican frontrunner Donald Trump's proposal for a "total and complete shutdown" of Muslims entering the United States during the fifth GOP presidential debate Tuesday, saying the proposal was a vivid demonstration of how Trump would be a "chaos president."

Asked by CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer about his remark that Trump's proposal was "unhinged," Bush responded that in order to defeat the Islamic State terrorist group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, the U.S. needed to partner with Muslim allies in the Middle East, a step that would be made considerably more difficult if Trump's Muslim prohibition took effect. 

"Look, this is not a serious proposal," Bush said. "In fact, it will push the Muslim world, the Arab world away from us at a time when we need to re-engage with them to be able to create a strategy to destroy ISIS. So, Donald, you know, is great at the one-liners. But he's a chaos candidate. And he'd be a chaos president. He would not be the commander in chief we need to keep our country safe."

Trump was unsparing in his response, firing back, "Jeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. nobody cares. And, frankly, I'm the most solid person up here." 

Offered the chance for a rejoinder, Bush worked in a jab at President Barack Obama, "Right now under President Obama we've created this standard that is so high that it's impossible to be successful in fighting ISIS. We need to engage with the Arab world to make this happen."

Bush continued, "It is not a serious proposal to say that to the people that you're asking to support, for their support that they can't even come to the country to even engage in a dialogue with us. That's not a serious proposal. We need a serious leader to deal with this. I believe I'm that guy."

You can watch the exchange below: