One of the few things Jeb Bush is right about is his obvious belief that Donald Trump is a menace. Fine. If Bush really believes that, and if he really wants to do a great service to our country, then the former Florida governor should take one bold step to suck the (hot) air from Trump’s balloon: Withdraw from the presidential race.

If Jeb Bush withdraws, a hy-u-uuge portion of the rationale for Trump’s candidacy will be withdrawn as well.

Trump is soaring in polls for four main reasons. First, because he talks tough, in plain language. Second, because he seems to represent big success (even though he’s nowhere near as successful as he claims). Third, because he tapped into honest popular anger against failure to enforce our laws against illegal immigration. And fourth, the most important reason of all, Trump seems to represent the single easiest way for voters to express disgust at the political “establishment” – a disgust driven by the sense that the same old people, the same old peddlers of influence, the same old viewpoints enjoy permanent power in national affairs, no matter what the public wants.

The fourth reason in many ways incorporates, and in other ways supersedes, the first three. Much of the public sees the Washington system of entrenched elites and says, in effect: “Burn it down. Burn it down now. Destroy the whole thing and start over.”