Jeb Bush tweets Trump-Clinton conspiracy theory: Here's a look at the 'evidence'

It sounds like something from House of Cards: Politician A enters into a secret alliance with Politician B - a loose-tongued rival from another party with the chutzpah, the cash and the power to play the spoiler - to ensure Politician A's election.

Now, anyone living inside the Beltway can testify that Washington isn’t organised enough to work that way. But after GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump said he would deny Muslims entry to the United States - and, faced with the condemnation of Republicans in Congress, indicated he might be considering running as an independent, a move that could work in the favour of the eventual Democrat candidate - one of Trump's rivals tweeted out the Grand Trump-Clinton Conspiracy Theory.

“Maybe Donald negotiated a deal with his buddy @HillaryClinton,” Jeb Bush tweeted. “Continuing this path will put her in the White House.”

Bush's comment came in response to a tweet from Trump Tuesday afternoon. “A new poll indicates that 68 per cent of my supporters would vote for me if I departed the GOP & ran as an independent,” Trump tweeted - despite making a more-or-less meaningless pledge in September to refrain from doing just that.

There's no doubt that Trump is a hand grenade launched into the middle of a crowded Republican field - one whose controversial comments about Muslims, immigrants and women, among many other subjects, have proven popular with the party's base even as the Donald's rivals try to distance themselves from them. But is his refusal to flame out really the result of high-level machinations among Trump, a former president and the Democratic presidential front-runner - a former first lady, US senator, and secretary of state?

Probably not - but it sure is fun to speculate about it, as many have in recent months. Here's a look at the “evidence”: