Bush shoots himself in the foot by summing up US with this picture
WHEN Jeb Bush published a picture of his personalised handgun with the caption ‘America’, he no doubt thought he would be enhancing his right-wing credentials.
Unfortunately the online post backfired on the Republican presidential candidate.
The former Florida governor and brother of George W Bush has been trying desperately to revive his flagging campaign. On a visit to the FN gun factory in South Carolina earlier this week, he was presented with a black .45 calibre handgun, which had ‘Gov. Jeb Bush’ engraved on the barrel.
Hoping to impress gun- owning voters in the southern state, Mr Bush – who has previously admitted to not owning a gun – proudly posted a photo of it on Twitter.
Protecting gun rights has become a core issue for Republican presidential contenders. And Mr Bush has regularly touted his record defending gun ownership.
But people were quick to poke fun at his suggestion that a gun can sum up America. British comedian Joe Lycett posted a picture of a cup of tea, captioned: ‘The UK.’
Other users suggested a picture of a curry for Bradford. And a US newspaper dubbed Mr Bush ‘Dolt .45’ on its front page. Critics also gleefully pointed out that the gun’s Belgian manufacturer – FN – produced thousands of pistols for Nazi officers and pilots during the Second World War.
Despite campaigning feverishly in South Carolina, polls show Mr Bush has just 10 per cent of the state’s Republican vote, behind Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.
However Mr Bush found an unexpected ally this week, after Barack Obama predicted that Trump ‘will not be president’ because it is a ‘serious job’.