Patton: How Jeb Bush Ended Up Supporting Donald Trump

Political pranks against opponents have a long history. One of the most famous practitioners was Dick Tuck who took particular delight in tormenting former president Richard Nixon. Tuck’s best-known stunt cut short a Nixon speech.

A generation or two ago, presidential candidates made “whistle-stop” tours. They climbed aboard trains and traveled from town-to-town giving speeches from the rear-platform of the last car to crowds assembled at each stop. So the story goes, Tuck put a conductor’s hat on his head and signaled the engineer to leave while Nixon was in the middle of his speech. The train slowly chugged away, leaving Nixon surprised and the rapidly-disappearing crowd more than a little puzzled.

Early in his career before he became known to Nixon, Tuck signed on as an advance man for a Nixon event. He rented a large auditorium, but invited only a few people to attend, making it appear as if Nixon’s speech had attracted a pitifully small turn-out. Tuck made a long-winded introduction of Nixon, and then, to make things even more boring, told Nixon the crowd wanted him to talk about the International Monetary Fund, the dullest topic Tuck could imagine.

On another occasion, when Nixon was running for governor of California in 1962, he made a campaign stop in the Chinatown section of Los Angeles. When Nixon arrived, he found members of a crowd holding signs. Half the signs were in English, but the other half were written in Chinese. The English signs complimented and supported Nixon, but Tuck had seen to it that the Chinese signs insulted him.

The tradition of the political prank continues today. Many a celebrity has come a cropper because that person failed to purchase a domain name that followers would try to use on the Internet to connect with the famous individual. After discovering the mistake, the chagrined star has then been forced to buy, for a large sum, the domain name from an everyday person who had the foresight to buy it, realizing he or she could cash in later. Either that, or the celebrity has been forced to endure whatever embarrassment misdirection of followers causes.

Presidential candidate Jeb Bush fell prey to this trick. Those wanting to reach Jeb Bush’s website who used the apparently reasonable address “JebBush.com” found themselves re-directed to Donald Trump’s site. Not only did this misdirection occur to those attempting to connect with Bush, but also to those wanting to reach Kelly Ayotte (who figured kellyayotte.com would get them there) or the New Hampshire Republican Party (using NHGOP.com). In all cases, these apparently logical addresses ended up sending computer users to Donald Trump’s site.

According to online records, the impostor site name, JebBush.com, was first registered in 1997 and updated last October. It remains unclear who owns the site and engineered the hoax.

BuzzFeed (12/7/2015) notes that one user tweeted, “@JebBush spends $28M on campaign but forgets 2 spend $50 on some extra domain name registrations. . .Wow. . . #Trumped.”

Are you struggling to complete your Christmas list of gifts for other people. There’s still time. If you would like a modestly-priced novel about New Hampshire politics as a Christmas gift for a friend or relative who likes politics , let me suggest my newest book, “Selling Mt. Washington”

This satirical novel explores in comic fashion the murky wheeling and dealing of the New Hampshire political world. Will the state legislature approve wind turbines on iconic Mt. Washington? Will a clueless and clumsy “outtastatah” (out of stater) named Charlie Beezer win election to the NH State Senate and astound the political world by defeating the bill? (maybe, maybe not).

“Selling Mt. Washington” is now available in Portsmouth at the River Run Bookstore , Discover Portsmouth, and Tugboat Alley. In Exeter, this book can be obtained at The Water Street Bookstore and the Country Store at RiverWoods. In Hampton, look for it at the Galley Hatch gift shop. In North Hampton, it is available at “The Book Outlet.” In Concord, “Selling Mt. Washington” can be found at Gibson’s Bookstore. It is also available on-line at Amazon.com. Patton is also the author of “Outtastatahs: Newcomers’ Adventures in New Hampshire.”