Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush, once seen as the one to beat for the GOP nomination, is blaming the media’s obsessive interest in Donald Trump for his failure to go anywhere but down in the polls over the last several months.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal published online Friday night, Bush said Trump’s front-runner status is largely the result of a doltish national media.
“The people following and covering the campaigns? The cable shows? They’re obsessed with Trump, and all they care about is what effect this disparaging remark will have on the campaign — it’s all about nothing,” Bush said. “It changes with each week. He’s Pavlov and they’re the dog, basically. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”
Before launching his campaign, Bush was heralded as the all but certain nominee, with a lock on big GOP donors and name recognition that would dwarf his lesser-known rivals. Whatever advantage Bush had was undone shortly after Trump, elbows out, announced his own bid for the nomination with a flamethrowing speech that claimed the U.S. is being led by inept politicians and that the country was being taken advantage of by foreigners.
Bush’s lead in the race crumbled and his national polling numbers have been mired in single digits, with Trump far ahead both nationally and in most early primary states.
Bush also gave a rare compliment for Trump, who for months has delighted in publicly taunting Bush for being “low energy.” He credited the billionaire developer’s lead in the race to his knack for “manipulating the press like no one has ever done in modern history” and tapping into the “the deep angst and anger people feel.”
“You gotta respect that,” Bush said.
