In her latest Wall Street Journal column, conservative writer Peggy Noonan gave Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush some advice his campaign probably doesn’t want to hear.
Bush, who was once favored to win the nomination, is currently polling in single digits both nationally and in early primary states. If he were to withdraw from the contest, Noonan argues, he could be the party’s savior from front-runner Donald Trump.
“If after New Hampshire Mr. Trump is triumphing, Republican candidates who aren’t going to make it should be pressed to sacrifice themselves to narrow the field and let the viable non-Trumps rise,” Noonan said. “Jeb Bush, by stepping down, could become what he wanted to be this year — a hero, a history changer, a man who enhanced his own and his family’s legacy.”
Trump could win the GOP nomination, Noonan said, marking a major revolution within the party.
“If the rise of Donald Trump continues, the Republican Party is either breaking in two or changing its nature — either way a huge political development,” she wrote. “If it breaks in two it will be because the bottom pushed away hard from the top, which will have to decide where it goes. If the party holds together it will be a more populist one, at least as long as Mr. Trump dominates — more liberal on spending, less interventionist on foreign policy, if we go by his rhetoric.”
Trump is currently leading every national and primary state-level poll, except Iowa, where he and Ted Cruz are tied.
Bush is currently fourth on the Washington Examiner‘s presidential power rankings.
