Boy, Jeb! Bush really showed Donald Trump last night, if you ask Jeb! Bush. Bush was definitely a peppier, better rehearsed version of the candidate he was in earlier debates—where before he would get off a rehearsed zinger and then subside into limp shock when his opponent dared to come back at him, at Tuesday night’s debate he had some follow-up and stood his ground. But it’s not at all clear he had the dominant performance he himself described on Morning Joe Wednesday:
“I don’t know if the front-running candidate fared that well in that kind of context,” Bush said. “His policies, what he’s advocated, just won’t do it. And I was pleased to be able to point that out and we had some exchanges. And I think I won.”
“He doesn’t have a plan. He’s not a serious candidate,” Bush added, repeating a word he used a dozen times during the debate.
Define “serious.” By “serious,” Jeb! seems to mean “a candidate with ideas the Republican establishment finds acceptable.” But an equally accepted definition of “serious candidate” involves having strong poll numbers, in which case Trump is the serious candidate and Jeb! is the unserious one—a point Trump himself made. When Jeb! unleashed “ You're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency,” Trump responded “Well, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better.” (A little cherry-picking of the polls, there, but point made.)
The key “not serious” thing Bush singled out was Trump’s plan to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, because “This is a caring country. We still are that way, and I just reject out of hand that our party is a party of fear.” First, Jeb doesn’t get to define the Republican Party, and the voters seem to be going with “yes, our party is a party of fear” so far. Second, this is the very same person who, just a month ago was saying the U.S. should admit Christians from Syria. If they could prove that they were Christians. “If you can’t prove it, you are on the side of caution.” Sure, it was framed positively (yes to Christians!) rather than negatively (no to Muslims!), but both plans kind of boil down to imposing religious tests on refugees. So that high horse Jeb! is up on may not be quite as high as he thinks.
Also, too, declaring yourself the debate winner might sort of work for Donald Trump, but it kind of invites mockery coming from Jeb! Bush.