That analogy is certainly interesting but Johnson was much more dominant than Jeb ever was. Jeb may easily have lost even without Trump as he was a weak candidate, the wrong candidate for the 2016 GOP, lacked full establishment support and it was an open field. Johnson could be Hillary Clinton, a prohibitive frontrunner who received all the media attention but nearly undone by a base revolt and bombed the general election, blowing a likely win (for Libertarians a win being 5%+)
Imagine if Mark Cuban had entered the Libertarian primary field and done a gigantic character assassination hit against Johnson. Cuban would have Free Media attention boosting him due to his celebrity status. Like I mentioned in the OP, watch the Trumpless IA debate, Jeb acted exactly like Johnson did in the LP debates, without Trump to attack him, Jeb held his own vs. the other candidates who were either incapable of debating him on detailed policy issues or were restrained from doing so. If you look at how Johnson behaved in the GE, with all his faux pas, he really isn't that different from Jeb personality-wise.
Cuban isnt a libertarian far from one i say.
