MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace has gone on record to reveal that she once told Jeb Bush he should have swung on Donald Trump for insulting his family. In hindsight, Wallace says it would have been worth it, even if it meant sacrificing his chances to advance towards the presidency at the time.
During the taping of her show, “Deadline: White House,” on Thursday, October 11, Wallace recalled the moment she personally pitched her two cents about the way she thought Bush should have handled the disrespect Trump showed while campaigning for the Oval Office. Former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele was in the middle of imparting analysis on why Trump was able to get away with making the 2015-16 GOP primaries personal when Wallace cut in to share what she remembers telling her onetime political affiliate.
“I told Jeb Bush after the debate that I thought he should have punched him in the face,” Wallace disclosed to the viewing audience. “Even if you lost, he insulted your wife, he came down the escalator and called Mexicans rapists and murderers.”
MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace says she encouraged Jeb Bush to physically attack Donald Trump: “I told Jeb Bush after that debate that I thought he should have punched [Trump] in the face.”
Wallace says Bush would have been “a hero” if he would have violently attacked Trump. pic.twitter.com/VT7aBWJTMq
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) October 11, 2018
In lead up to her remarks, Wallace, Steele, and fellow MSNBC host Chris Matthews had been discussing the hostile nature that election debating has devolved to over the past few years. After introducing the subject, Richard Stengel opined that the most effective way to navigate a war of words on the campaign trail today is to address them immediately and directly.
Wallace, whose past life involved a tenure in politics that saw her serve as White House Communications Director under Jeb’s brother George W. Bush, recalled the younger Bush lacking such insight and consulting her about what the best course of action might have been while being demeaned by Trump. She recommended he respond immediately and directly, alright, stating, “I think you should have punched him in the face and then gotten out of the race. You would have been a hero.”
One person who got wind of Wallace’s comments and did not take them lightly was Donald Trump Jr., who has often used social media to take up for his father. He would eventually take to Twitter to question Wallace’s moral grounds in a tweet that cited her words as representative of the lengths the President’s opponents will go to act on their disdain for him.
“Is anyone shocked that the left wants people to resort to violence?” Don Jr. fired back.