Donald Trump and Jeb Bush have been going after each other for months now in what had been a relatively normal, pointed political battle.
Now, the gloves appear to be coming off.
It all started on Friday when Trump gave an interview to Bloomberg reporter Stephanie Ruhle. In the course of discussing whether Trump could lead the U.S. in times of crisis, the leading Republican presidential candidate noted that the 9/11 terrorist attacks happened under George W. Bush's presidency.
That drew a rebuke from Jeb Bush, who defended this brother's leadership during that time.
How pathetic for @realdonaldtrump to criticize the president for 9/11. We were attacked & my brother kept us safe.— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) October 16, 2015
Trump appeared on Saturday to have backed down a bit from the situation or at least hoped that it would blow over. He reportedly dodged reporters following a campaign speech, a rarity for Trump.
The silence didn't last long.
Bush and Trump were at each other's throats on Sunday, with 9/11 being central to their bickering.
Bush, appearing on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday political talk show with Jake Tapper, argued that Trump's argument on 9/11 was not taken seriously.
"Does anybody actually blame my brother for the attacks on 9/11? If they do, they're totally marginalized in our society," Bush said.
.@JebBush in response to @realDonaldTrump's comments on 9/11: Trump lacks "seriousness" http://t.co/2iDPzdKjbv— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) October 18, 2015
It did not take long for Trump to fire back, going beyond 9/11 to question the military actions pushed by George W. Bush following the terrorist attacks.
Jeb, why did your brother attack and destabalize the Middle East by attacking Iraq when there were no weapons of mass destruction? Bad info?— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2015
Trump also appeared on a talk show on Sunday, sitting down with Chris Wallace on Fox News where he echoed his earlier comments.
"Look, look, Jeb said 'We were safe with my brother. We were safe.' Well, the World Trade Center just fell down! Now, am I trying to blame him? I'm not blaming anybody. But the World Trade Center came down. So when he said, we were safe, that's not safe. We lost 3,000 people, it was one of the greatest - probably the greatest catastrophe ever in this country if you think about it, right?" Trump said.