How Did Jeb Bush Domain End Up Pointing To Donald Trump Site?

Billionaire Donald Trump continues making headlines by shaking up the GOP presidential race this election cycle, proving that a Washington outsider can be a front-runner for the nomination of the Republican Party. In an election year where politics and campaigns grow weirder and wilder by the day, it appeared Trump managed to pull off an unprecedented coup today against one of his GOP rivals, Jeb Bush. Stories began circulating that the Bush campaign had let their domain expire, allowing someone else to take control of the site, when JebBush.com began forwarding to the Donald Trump site.

But new information reported by CBS News indicates Donald Trump may not be quite that clever and perhaps Jeb Bush isn’t quite that inept. In fact, new information indicates neither one of them had anything to do with the bait and switch domain, but who did?

CBS News reported that JebBush.com is actually owned by a company called Fabulous.com Pty Ltd., based in Australia, not Jeb Bush or any groups associated with him in an official capacity. Fabulous.com helps domain and business owners manage and monetize their sites. Unfortunately, many media outlets and Twitter followers thought some political mudslinging had occurred, with Trump playing dirty to take advantage of a major error by the Bush campaign.

Radio station K94.5 FM was flabbergasted when they reported that Trump had taken over the domain.

“HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN? GOP nominee Jeb Bush may not be the most technical guy in the world, but I guarantee you he has a team of internet gurus working hard for him every day. Somehow, no one caught this ahead of time.”

Well, as it turns out, it didn’t happen, which is a good thing for the Bush campaign given they are already struggling to stay in the race despite early predictions that his family ties to former presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush would make him the front-runner, the Bush campaign has been hounded by political gaffes and a failure by the GOP voters to embrace yet another Bush for the White House.

Donald Trump, on the other hand, has made far more controversial comments that one would have expected would spell ruin for his political campaign: calling many Mexican immigrants “rapists”; accusations of sexism in his ongoing battle with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly; and even claiming he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue in New York without losing votes. Yet, other than a second place finish in the Iowa caucus, Trump remains the GOP front-runner.

While many on Twitter are having a good laugh at Bush’s expense, both Bush and Donald Trump may get the last laugh at how many media outlets presumed he had bought or stolen Jeb Bush’s website right out from under him. Although, in defense of the media, one could argue the most shocking thing about the whole affair wasn’t the allegation, but how believable it would be in this election year.

The Bush campaign’s real site, Jeb2016.com, was displayed prominently in his most recent campaign stop Monday in South Carolina, although polls show Donald Trump with a commanding lead for the upcoming GOP primary in that state. The next Republican debate takes place February 25 in Houston, TX — the heart of Bush country — but will Jeb Bush still be in the race by the time they roll into Texas?

Jeb’s fate is still up in the air, but at least his website is safe. For now.

(Photo: Paul Sancya/AP)