“To make these extraordinarily ugly kind of comments is not reflective of the Republican Party,” Mr. Bush said about Mr. Trump, whose comments caused NBC, Univision, Macy’s and others to cut ties with him.

“He’s doing this — he’s not a stupid guy, so I don’t assume he thinks that every Mexican crossing the border is a rapist. He’s doing this to inflame and incite and to draw attention, which seems to be the organizing principle of his campaign,” Mr. Bush said.

Asked if he took Mr. Trump’s remarks personally, given his family, Mr. Bush became a little cross.

“Yeah, of course it — absolutely — and a lot of other people” did as well, he said. “But politically, we’re going to win when we’re hopeful and optimistic and big and broad rather than errrrr, grrrr, just angry all the time. This is an exaggerated form of that, and there is no tolerance for it.”