His bet is that voters will reward his wonkiness that, at first, was seen as a liability. “I still believe that ideas and policies have consequences,” Bush likes to tell his audiences. Compared to Trump’s flimsy policy proposals and heated rhetoric, Bush claims to like his odds. “If you repeat something over and over again, it becomes true. It doesn’t, but that’s the way Donald rolls,” Bush mocked his rival. “If Trump wants to have a debate on this, it would be a complete mismatch.”

The question remains, however, what to do about Trump, the current frontrunner who has remained atop the heap far longer than anyone expected. “I think the world is volatile. Politics is volatile. He’s volatile,” Bush tells TIME in an interview. “New Hampshire decides late. They’re discerning voters. I will put my trust in them.”

That is really his own option, given the electoral environment where he finds himself. “There’s a mythology that’s built up for all candidates,” Bush said Saturday. Trump’s story is that he’s the frontrunner and that Bush is a low-energy loser. Both, Bush said, were false. He then thanked his audience for its patience while he tried to sort out his place in the race. “It was like giving me therapy,” Bush said.