In op-ed, Jeb Bush says Donald Trump has a 'shocking lack of knowledge' about national security

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The back and forth between Jeb Bush and Donald Trump on whether George W. Bush is to blame for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks continues, this time with Bush writing an op-ed for National Review accusing Trump of having "dangerous views on national-security issues."

Last week, Trump told Bloomberg that the World Trade Center came down under George W. Bush's watch, adding: "He was president, okay?... Blame him, or don't blame him, but he was president." Since then, Trump and Jeb Bush have traded barbs on Twitter and during television appearances, with Bush's op-ed published Tuesday continuing the feud. Trump, Bush writes, is echoing "the attacks of Michael Moore and the fringe Left" against his brother, and "has expressed a willingness to allow Vladimir Putin to dominate the Middle East by aligning with Iran and propping up the ruthless Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad — an action that would only worsen the existing refugee crisis and endanger our national security interests and those of Israel."

By looking at Trump's previous statements about foreign policy and leaders, Bush says it's easy to see that he's in over his head. "Let's be clear: Donald Trump simply doesn't know what he's talking about," he wrote. "And his bluster overcompensates for a shocking lack of knowledge on the complex national security challenges that will confront the next president of the United States." Bush used the op-ed to share some of his ideas, writing that he will "strengthen the NATO alliance and use America's newly realized status as an energy superpower to lessen others' dependence on Russian oil and gas, and the advantage it gives Putin" and "have a strategy to defeat ISIS and Assad and protect American interests in the region." Read the full op-ed at the National Review.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.