Donald Trump and Jeb Bush responding to a question by John Dickerson, Republican Candidates Debate in Greenville, South Carolina; February 13, 2016

DICKERSON: All right. Mr. Trump...[applause]...On Monday, George W. Bush will campaign in South Carolina for his brother. As you've said tonight, and you've often said, the Iraq war and your opposition to it was a sign of your good judgment. In 2008, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, talking about President George W. Bush's conduct of the war, you said you were surprised that Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi didn't try to impeach him. You said, quote: "Which, personally, I think would have been a wonderful thing." When you were asked what you meant by that and you said: "For the war, for the war, he lied, he got us into the war with lies." Do you still believe President Bush should have been impeached? TRUMP: First of all, I have to say, as a businessman, I get along with everybody. I have business all over the world. [booing] I know so many of the people in the audience. And by the way, I'm a self-funder. I don't have — I have my wife and I have my son. That's all I have. I don't have this. [applause] So let me just tell you, I get along with everybody, which is my obligation to my company, to myself, et cetera. Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake. All right? Now, you can take it any way you want, and it took — it took Jeb Bush, if you remember at the beginning of his announcement, when he announced for president, it took him five days. He went back, it was a mistake, it wasn't a mistake. It took him five days before his people told him what to say, and he ultimately said, "It was a mistake." The war in Iraq, we spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don't even have it. Iran has taken over Iraq, with the second-largest oil reserves in the world. Obviously, it was a mistake. DICKERSON: So... TRUMP: George Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East. DICKERSON: But so I'm going to — so you still think he should be impeached? BUSH: I think it's my turn, isn't it? TRUMP: You do whatever you want. You call it whatever you want. I want to tell you. They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction. [booing] DICKERSON: All right. O.K. All right.

— Donald Trump on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "DICKERSON: All right. Mr. Trump...[applause]...On Monday, George W. Bush will campaign in South Carolina for his brother. As you've said tonight, and you've often said, the Iraq war and your opposition to it was a sign of your good judgment. In 2008, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, talking about President George W. Bush's conduct of the war, you said you were surprised that Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi didn't try to impeach him. You said, quote: "Which, personally, I think would have been a wonderful thing." When you were asked what you meant by that and you said: "For the war, for the war, he lied, he got us into the war with lies." Do you still believe President Bush should have been impeached? TRUMP: First of all, I have to say, as a businessman, I get along with everybody. I have business all over the world. [booing] I know so many of the people in the audience. And by the way, I'm a self-funder. I don't have — I have my wife and I have my son. That's all I have. I don't have this. [applause] So let me just tell you, I get along with everybody, which is my obligation to my company, to myself, et cetera. Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake. All right? Now, you can take it any way you want, and it took — it took Jeb Bush, if you remember at the beginning of his announcement, when he announced for president, it took him five days. He went back, it was a mistake, it wasn't a mistake. It took him five days before his people told him what to say, and he ultimately said, "It was a mistake." The war in Iraq, we spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don't even have it. Iran has taken over Iraq, with the second-largest oil reserves in the world. Obviously, it was a mistake. DICKERSON: So... TRUMP: George Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East. DICKERSON: But so I'm going to — so you still think he should be impeached? BUSH: I think it's my turn, isn't it? TRUMP: You do whatever you want. You call it whatever you want. I want to tell you. They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction. [booing] DICKERSON: All right. O.K. All right." in the context of "Donald Trump and Jeb Bush responding to a question by John Dickerson, Republican Candidates Debate in Greenville, South Carolina; February 13, 2016" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Iraq and weapons of mass destruction" (Quotes) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed February 07, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Donald Trump

About Donald Trump

Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is serving as the 47th president of the United States of America since January 20, 2025. He previously served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021.