On the attack in debate, Jeb Bush brands Trump the ‘chaos candidate’

Republican US presidential contender Jeb Bush has assailed front-runner Donald Trump in a debate for proposing to ban Muslims from entering the United States, calling Trump a “chaos candidate” who was not serious but adept at delivering one-liners.

But many other candidates, including Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, were reluctant to directly take on the billionaire Trump, focusing their criticism on US President Barack Obama and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, Obama's former secretary of state, for failing to keep the United States safe.

“Donald is great at the one-liners, but he is a chaos candidate and he would be a chaos president,” said Bush, the former governor of Florida who has been lagging in opinion polls. He said at Tuesday night’s CNN-hosted debate that Trump’s Muslim plan was “not a serious proposal.”

Trump, 69, dismissed Bush's criticism. “He's failed in his campaign, it’s been a total disaster,” Trump said, and defended his proposal.

“We're not talking about isolation; we're talking about security. We're not talking about religion; we're talking about security. Our country is out of control,” Trump said.

Bush, 62, later criticised Trump for proposing to kill the families of Islamic State militants, saying it was “just crazy” to think that was a solution.