(CNN) — As Donald Trump’s feud with Jeb Bush reached new levels this week, Trump said he would still back “the Republican” if the general election matched up the former Florida governor and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
“I’d go with the Republican,” Trump answered Wednesday morning on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” refusing to name his foe for the Republican nomination when asked about the general election choice.
“Hillary was absolutely a horrendous secretary of state, probably the worst ever. I would have to go really with the Republican,” Trump said.
The question came one day after Bush and Trump published competing attack videos slamming each other for — among other things — praising Clinton.
Trump’s video, posted to Instagram on Tuesday, features Bush presenting Clinton with the “Liberty Medal” in 2013, which Bush called a recognition of “the commitment of someone who has devoted her life to public service.”
Bush earlier Tuesday published a video online slamming Trump for his past liberal policy positions — a video that also included clips of Trump praising Clinton as “very talented” and “terrific” as early as 2012 — as Clinton wrapped up her tenure as secretary of state.
The Bush campaign pressed further Wednesday, publishing an online quiz that contrasts Bush and Trump’s past positions on issues that paints Bush as the conservative choice.
Trump also had words Wednesday morning for retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who is surging in the polls to tie Trump in the latest survey out of the early state of Iowa and is now right behind Trump in national ones.
Trump, who has said he would like to avoid attacking Carson, called him a “good guy” whom he likes “a lot.”
But Trump tied Carson’s rise in Iowa to his ad spending in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. Carson flooded the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire with TV ads after the first GOP debate, ads that seem to have made their mark in Iowa.
Nonetheless, Trump said Carson’s surge to tie Trump in Iowa came “a little bit surprisingly.”
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