Trump Should Apologize To Jeb Bush's Wife

Donald Trump has already ruffled quite a few feathers during the second GOP debate. Moderator Jake Tapper's line of questioning on immigration may have caused the most animosity between Trump and his fellow candidates. A heated exchange occurred between the Republican front-runner and fellow candidate Jeb Bush, which devolved into personal insults from the Donald. Trump should apologize to Jeb Bush's wife because his comments were completely unacceptable: he attacked Bush's relatively progressive stance on immigration reform and said that the former Florida governor was "soft on immigration because of his Mexican wife."

If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico.

Bush immediately and repeatedly requested that Trump apologize for his offensive comments. Bush said:

To subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate and I hope you apologize for that ... She's absolutely the love of my life and right here and why don't you apologize to her right now.

The Donald instead refused and the two went back and forth about the insult rather than the issue at hand. The most Trump could offer was calling Bush's wife a "lovely woman," though he still refused to back down from his comments. Trump said:

I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman... I won't do that [apologize] because I said nothing wrong, but I do hear she's a lovely woman.

This isn't the first time that Trump has directly insulted Bush's wife, Columba. Back in July, Trump retweeted a particularly offensive comment that blatantly echoes his comments during Wednesday night's debate. The now deleted retweet said that Jeb Bush "has to like the Mexican Illegals because of his wife." Even then, rather than apologize, a campaign spokesperson told ABC News that Trump simply didn't write the tweet and refused to comment on its deletion.

Trump's personal insults against Bush and his wife come off as more of a distraction than anything. They do little to illustrate his personal beliefs on immigration and sound incredibly unprofessional. The spat between the two candidates may even hurt the GOP front-runner's polling numbers in addition to causing a rift between them.