In the midst of all this, Jeb Bush demonstrates no apparent capacity to project that kind of leadership. There’s no soaring rhetoric that captures the essence of the time, no demonstration that he understands either the depth or nature of the American crisis, no indication that he is a man who can craft a message designed to scramble up the nation’s political fault lines and create a new coalition that can break the political deadlock and set the nation upon a new course. That challenge was seized by Donald Trump, whose crude ways irritated and outraged Bush’s staid and status quo sensibilities. It appeared that Bush never really knew what hit him.

And so now he’s gone, and his father and brother reside in history. It’s a compelling story, this Bush dynasty tale, but a sad one too.

Robert W. Merry is a contributing editor at the National Interest and an author of books on American history and foreign policy.

Image: Flickr/Michael Vadon