The Sam Spade Memorial Good Post Gallery

[mencken]

I believe Trump would not have won the nomination and the GOP would have been more unified if Jeb Bush had not entered the race.

Jeb Bush's entry into the 2016 race is, IMO, what made Trump possible.  Unbeknownst to seemingly everyone but Trump, there was a YUGE undercurrent of resentment toward the Bushes and Bush Republicanism that was brought to life when Jeb Bush (A) decided to go for it and (B) became the instant frontrunner and favorite of donors.  There was a generalized resentment toward the GOP Establishment and Establishment politicians, but that, alone, might have brought about a Cruz nomination, which would not have taxed the rest of the GOP on issues as Trump's nomination has.  Jeb entering the fray, however, set him up as the personification of what many GOP voters deeply resented about their own party, and Trump was there to give them a vehicle.

Had Jeb Bush not entered the race, I believe that Ted Cruz would have been nominated.  Trump would not have gotten the traction he needed to get started, and Cruz would have been seen as the anti-Establishment guy.  Jeb's candidacy was rocket fuel for Trump, and I'm sure Jeb regrets getting into the 2016 race deeply right about now.

I don't think it was Jeb Bush in particular -his entry into the race is also the reason why Mitt Romney did not throw his hat into the ring for a third time.  Would the base have reacted any differently had Romney been in Bush's place?

They would have reacted with less intensity, IMO.  Romney represented a guy that folks had mixed feelings about; some felt that he did OK in 2012 and was the most electable, while others thought he choked.  But Romney wasn't Bush; he wasn't the third member of a dynasty and he wasn't the son and brother of two (2) separate Presidents who left office at rock bottom approval levels.  The Bushes were seen as folks they bought into, only to have them wreck the party and ruin the brand.  In addition, many of the base saw the "Bush" name as instant disaster, where they saw the "Romney" name as someone who folks might want a second look at.

The lessened intensity, again IMO, would have weeded out Trump.  It was the anti-Bush intensity that got Trump the early traction he never surrendered.

[mencken]

I'm not enough of a utilitarian to justify taking someone else's life, which is what this question amounts to. If, for instance, I were to rephrase the question with the caveat that if your answer to this question is at least one life, then it is your life that will be taken first, people in this thread would be a lot less gung ho. Yet you are all willing to sacrifice other people's lives.