Trump took off like wildfire running against “rapists” and “criminals” coming in across the border, the polar opposite of Bush’s message of immigration reform and compassion for undocumented immigrants, who he said came primarily as an “act of love.”

Yet Bush hesitated to engage him. It seems crazy to imagine now, but the assumption among the pundit class and the Bush campaign alike, was that Trump’s arrival was a good thing. It would prevent other candidates from gaining traction before eventually imploding like Trump’s birther-fueled dress rehearsal had in 2011, leaving Bush to swoop in with superior resources and head into the general election as the guy who’d exorcised the party’s nativist demons.

He was partly right. Trump utterly devoured coverage of the race and he blocked out many of Bush’s rivals. Walker, who seemed like a frontrunner himself at one point, was soon gone. Others would follow. But Bush failed to pick up their support as they collapsed. If anything, he kept dropping.

“Meanwhile, Trump was on TV 24/7, calling into shows, having his rallies carried live, giving exclusives to conservative outlets, and tweeting away and his favorite target was “low energy” mama’s boy Bush. He was the perfect foil for Trump, who pitched himself as a lone incorruptible man of the people whose money insulated him from special interests while candidates like Bush were bought off by millionaire super PAC donors.