Rabbits Think Like Rabbits

Jeb Bush’s campaign thinks Donald will help him win.

Donald J. Trump’s surge in the polls has been met with barely concealed delight by Jeb Bush and his supporters. Mr. Trump’s bombastic ways have simultaneously made it all but impossible for those vying to be the alternative to Mr. Bush to emerge, and easier for Mr. Bush, the former Florida governor, to position himself as the serious and thoughtful alternative to a candidate who has upended the early nominating process.

With little indication that his support is slipping and the promise of the center stage at Thursday’s debate, Mr. Trump has essentially frozen the rest of the field.

“The longer it goes, the greater the panic is going to build,” said Alex Castellanos, a longtime Republican strategist. “And that means you may not have the luxury to flirt with an undeveloped, budding candidate. Trump has set the Republican Party on fire, and if you’re going to put that fire out you don’t have time to waste. You’re going to have to grab the biggest blanket you got and throw it, and right now that’s Jeb.”

Narcissists and liberals will both process negative information similarly. Either they will deny it outright, or, if it can’t be denied, they will try to couch it in a positive light. Both are attempts to shield the amygdala from eliciting a sudden wave of aversive stimulus. It is amazing to see an individual actually alter their read of reality, believe something patently ridiculous, and often destroy their ability to adapt to reality, all to make the belief they hold less troubling. They literally care more about their feelings than reality.

Here, the Bush campaign is confronting a very negative stimulus. Donald is ascendant, and he isn’t playing by the normal rules. He insults people, they call him on it, he insults them, and the crowd cheers. He speaks all of the politically incorrect truths that nobody is supposed to say. There is no defense against him, and he appears fully poised to trounce Jeb in a heartbeat.

How to process this information?

Donald is really helping Jeb, by keeping John Kasich and Rick Santorum from amassing enough support to challenge Jeb. Now Donald’s ascendancy is a positive thing.

With rabbits, this type of cognitive rewire is about more than merely trying to tell other people things are rosy. It is actually scratching a deep itch in the rabbit, and protecting them from a very painful stimulus.

Of course it is no surprise that a northeastern liberal establishment politician like Jeb Bush’s campaign would exhibit this type of rabbit-esque cognitive trait.