Reprinted from The Guardian
There are many, many reasons to abhor Donald Trump's presidential campaign, but there's at least one reason to appreciate it, for now: his constant and merciless trolling of Jeb Bush that is currently tanking Bush's shot at the presidency. In some sense, Trump is doing democracy a service by helping ensure we will not have to suffer the embarrassment of having a third Bush family member as president within two decades.
Trump will attack Jeb for his support for the Iraq War, but if Bush lightly criticizes George W Bush, Trump questions why he would throw his brother under the bus. Trump attacks Jeb for his record in Florida, rips him for his $1.3m "no show job" at Lehman Brothers after he left the governorship. He calls Jeb out for being "100% CONTROLLED" by his wealthy donors, and when a few donors recently left Jeb's campaign, Trump made fun of him for that too.
But it's repetition of his now infamous and nebulous phrase -- that Bush is a "low-energy guy" who could not handle the rigors of the presidency -- that has become a daily occurrence and clearly gotten under Bush's skin. Trump is constantly finding new ways to say it or sneaking it into statements, even those that aren't targeted at Bush himself.
He has been running half-bizarre half-amazing, extremely low-budget Instagram campaign commercials, the latest of which shows a Jeb supporter falling asleep at one of his rallies. It's an instant classic in the genre. Trump's previous less-than-15-second Instagram ads targeting Jeb declared "Enough is Enough -- no more Bushes!" and featuring Barbara Bush saying we don't need another Bush presidency are just as cutting (she later recanted when it was clear Jeb would run).