http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/run-2016/2015/07/20/why-donald-trumps-a-gift-to-jeb-bush?int=a14709Of all the 2016 presidential candidates, Jeb Bush has been the most frequent recipient of Donald Trump's venom.
But, ironically, it is the former Florida governor who is benefiting most from the bombastic real estate mogul's presence in the race.
No one gains more in the long run from having a seemingly unelectable option suck away media attention from a slate of more viable alternatives in the Republican primary than Bush.
Trump may take particular relish in throwing jabs at Bush, but his celebrity status combined with the vituperative nature of his attacks have only sidelined lesser-known rivals and halted the emergence of a consensus conservative alternative to the establishment favorite.
"The TV's all about Trump," says Brad Freeman, a Los Angeles-based financial backer of Bush. "Other than Bush, no other Republican is getting any traction on free media, any news."
Trump and Bush declared their candidacies within a day of each other in mid-June. Since then, they are the only two candidates whose polling averages have risen, according to an analysis provided to the Wall Street Journal. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida have each shed between 2 and 4 percentage points in that month's time.
Trump trounced the campaign rollouts of Walker and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and he's blunted the path of Cruz to becoming the most zealous anti-establishment voice. The unsettled chaos makes Bush – with the familiar name, steady demeanor and stacks of cash – look a little safer each day.
"When you have Trump out there, if you're an establishment Republican, you think this guy's damaging the party and need to make sure you have a strong candidate to beat this back. I think that helps Jeb," says Dante Chinni, the director of the American Communities Project at American University, who conducted the polling analysis.
Some Republicans believe Trump's latest slight against Sen. John McCain's military service – "He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured," Trump said of McCain in Iowa Saturday – will mark the beginning of the end of his flash-in-the-pan candidacy.
But a fresh survey of the GOP Iowa caucuses by Monmouth University, taken last Thursday through Sunday, has shown Trump holding his ground. He stands in second place with 13 percent, trailing front-runner Scott Walker by 9 points. The rest of the field is bottled up in single digits.
Monmouth found no evidence Trump's comments about McCain hurt his support in the Hawkeye State.
In the polling interviews conducted Thursday and Friday, Trump garnered 13 percent of the vote to 19 percent for Walker. In interviews Saturday and Sunday, Walker's support jumped to 25 percent, but Trump maintained 13 percent despite the firestorm that had engulfed him nationally.
After being first reluctant to respond to Trump's barbs, Bush has been increasingly more willing to rebuke him.
Last week on the trail in Iowa, he likened Trump to President Barack Obama for "their rhetoric of divisiveness." And after Trump impugned McCain on Saturday, Bush's campaign quickly fired off a tweet denouncing the attack, though without name-checking Trump.
But there's considerable deliberation within the campaigns and among their allies about how best to handle Trump going forward, especially in the first debate, now just over two weeks away.
The prospect of Trump dominating the 90 minutes on a hot stage in Cleveland like he has the last month of political coverage has party leaders anxious. No matter how far-fetched his chances are of ultimately becoming the GOP nominee, he's likely to be the featured attraction in that high-profile venue and there's no indication he'll temper his rhetoric.
Republican Presidential candidate Jeb Bush participated in 4th of July Parade on July 4, 2015 in Amherst, N.H.
Asked how Bush should respond if confronted harshly by Trump, Freeman says: "Roll his eyes. Remain the adult on stage."
Others think Bush has to be careful not to look too passive or dismissive of Trump under the klieg lights.
"The mistake is to assume he isn't a legitimate candidate," warns Matt Schlapp, who served as President George W. Bush's political director and is now chairman of the American Conservative Union. "He understands media better than most. He's been a television star for a long time. This is a television show."
Bush will be inclined to try to rise above any attacks hurled at him, rather than toss mud back. But some of his rivals think Trump could expose Bush as feeble if his response isn't forceful enough.
"Is he going to look weak and whiny?" asks an adviser to Paul.
The operating assumption is that Trump is currently playing the role that Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain did in 2012, when they rose in the polls and commanded a splash of attention even though they were never considered feasible presidential nominees.
"He's always been nothing more than a summer shark attack," says GOP consultant Brad Todd, who is advising Gov. Bobby Jindal's super PAC. "This summer, the shark attack is Donald Trump."
The idea is that once the leaves turn in September, the summer will be reviewed as less consequential than it is today: Trump will fade slowly or implode spectacularly and the electorate that is propping him up in these polls will focus and get serious.
Chinni isn't sold on using past as prologue.
"The rules for Trump are just so different," he says. "He's part Howard Stern, part Ross Perot."
So do the border first GOP voters break for the recently evolved Governor Walker, or "have a heart" instate tuition Governor Perry, or maybe expand legal immigration Senator Cruz?
