Jeb Bush drops 2016 presidential campaign

 Bush, who in the waning weeks of his campaign sparred relentlessly with GOP front runner Donald Trump, reiterated his belief that the presidency is for the humble. The rest want to embrace him, and they do so at their peril. The crowd clapped and cheered when Graham said, "I don't know about you, but I like the Bushes". A veteran himself, Zielinski said he wasn't sure who he would back in South Carolina's Republican primary on Saturday: He was down to Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, having dismissed Donald Trump as too centered on "the anger, not the promise" of America. Ted Cruz has taken time away from campaigning in SC to attend the funeral Mass in Washington for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Of course, that's the same role Bush is seeking, as is Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who placed second in New Hampshire. But the problem for Jeb Bush, and the whole Republican Party, is that George W. Bush led the GOP into a ditch. "And I think he is getting you off your message - your good message". Bush, like others, was caught off-guard by the durable popularity of political outsiders - particularly Trump. And in Florence, Bush was making a different argument to about 100 people - plus more than a dozen editors, gaffers, grips, and photographers from Showtime's The Circus crew. 




Donald Trump has more than four times that. It's all about him. "I am sick and exhausted of him going after my family", he said. "Jeb Bush proudly supports the regional govt of Wallonia, Belgium which owns the SC plant where this pistol was built", tweeted American University professor Aki Peritz, referencing parent company FN Herstal. There was something moving about the fraternal intimacy that George W. Bush displayed for Jeb this week in North Carolina, but they seemed to have escalated at the moment of defeat. The election followed days of hostility between the campaigns and their allies at events and in television ads, automatic calls and mailers. With every insult hurled, Trump's anti-establishment, bombastic persona became more popular. The guy can't win either way. Trump responded that there was "tremendous disorganization" at the top of the Bush administration. This is Michael Moore talk. "That doesn't even compare with the other candidates", Bush also posted on his Facebook. One thing is more certain, Bush desperately needs a strong showing in SC on Saturday to turn the narrative on his campaign around. She forces people to take them. "I've been "misunderestimated" most of my life". In Nevada, Jeb Bush has become the candidate of the one percent - literally, he has one percent of the vote there. The two issues he's hit on the hardest - open immigration and free trade - are very important to many voters in red states like SC who feel squeezed in the modern economy. "I'm the only one standing up to the bully", Bush shot back. "Given the contest I'm in, there could be someone who raises their hand", he said to laughs. Though if he does poorly, he must surely know what type of response he'll get from The Internet.

 And in Myrtle Beach, Bush, who has recently abandoned glasses for contact lenses, complained to staff about the lighting as he left the hall rubbing his eyes.