Here are 5 of the Republican presidential race's most embarrassing moments -- so far

Jeb Bush is spoiling for a fight, Chris Christie rejects rhythm, Rand Paul is a code killer, Ted Cruz machine-guns breakfast – and don’t try calling Lindsey Graham

The Republicans vying to become their party’s candidate for president of the United States have proved brilliant at one thing so far – making people grimace.

Related: Republican candidates' forum hears policy pitches in Trump-free zone

Jeb Bush’s slightly unconvincing threat to fight anyone who criticizes his father is the latest example, but from using weapons to cook bacon to sharing a little too much information on birth control preferences, here are five moments from the 2016 presidential campaign guaranteed to cause a cringe.

1. Jeb Bush on his father

The first gathering of the Republican presidential candidates on Tuesday night found the former Florida governor, son of President George HW Bush and brother of President George W Bush, stumbling rather awkwardly through a joke about his notable family.

“My dad is probably the most perfect man alive, so it’s very hard for me to be critical of him,” Bush said. “In fact, I’ve got a T-shirt that says, uh, at the Jeb swag store, that says I’m the, um, I’m the, my dad’s the greatest man alive. If you don’t like it, I’ll take you outside.”

2. Chris Christie discusses birth control

The New Jersey governor said he had not always agreed with Catholic doctrine on family planning at a town hall event at Blake’s Restaurant & Creamery in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Monday.

“I’m a Catholic but I’ve used birth control – and not just the rhythm method,” he told the crowd. One man can be seen holding his head in his hand.

3. Ted Cruz’s ‘machine-gun bacon’

A video published on conservative website IJReview shows the Texas senator wrapping bacon around the barrel of a rifle, then firing the rifle to cook the bacon using the heat of the weapon.

A Guardian investigation on Tuesday found that cooking bacon with a machine gun was unsafe and unclean.

“There are few things I enjoy more than on weekends cooking breakfast with the family,” Cruz says in the video. “Of course, in Texas we cook bacon a little differently than most folks.”

4. Rand Paul destroys the tax code

The Kentucky senator really hates the US tax code, which he proposes to replace with a 14.5% flat tax for all . In a video titled How Would You Kill the Tax Code?” the Republican candidate proposes a few options: putting the tax code, “all 70,000 pages”, in a woodchipper, hacking through it with a chainsaw, or simply burning it.

5. Lindsey Graham destroys a cellphone

After Republican frontrunner Donald Trump revealed the cellphone number of the South Carolina senator on TV last month, Graham retorted by releasing a video showing creative ways to get rid of a cellphone. He blends, chops, beats, drops and sets on fire his phone in a video titled How to Destroy Your Cell Phone with Lindsey Graham.

“Or, if all else fails, you can always give your number to ‘The Donald’,” he says in the video.

He then says: “This is for the veterans,” before throwing the phone off screen.

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