Jeb Bush calls Trump a ‘teddy bear,’ jokes he misses him

by Jesse Byrnes - 01/28/16 9:18 PM ET

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush chided his Republican rivals at the GOP debate Thursday for not going more aggressively after front-runner Donald Trump, whom he jokingly called a “teddy bear.”

“I kind of miss Donald Trump, he was a little teddy bear to me. We always had such a loving relationship here in these debates and in between and the tweets,” Bush joked with a smile during the Fox News debate.

{mosads}”I wish he was here. Everybody else was in the witness protection program when I went after him on behalf of what the conservative cause should be: conservative principles, believing in limited government, believing in accountability, leading by fixing things that are broken,” he added.

Bush has targted Trump for months, while the real estate tycoon has mostly brushed off his attacks. Trump recently has instead focused of late on Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), his nearest rival in Iowa where votes are cast Monday.

Trump is boycotting the debate Thursday night amid a feud with Fox News and co-moderator Megyn Kelly. Kelly started the debate with a question about Trump, acknowledging the “elephant not in the room.”

Tags Donald Trump Jeb Bush