-by NoahWhen President Obama was elected, Republicans howled. Immediately, billboards of George W. Bush’s smirking countenance sprang up that read “Miss me, yet?” It wasn’t so much that a Democrat had won the White House. Those things happen. No, it was more about which Democrat had won. Republicans, racists to their core, could not mention Barrack Obama’s name without saying “Kenya” and spitting out Obama’s middle name, Hussein (which actually means ‘blessing’), in an effort to push their alternative facts that President Obama is a Muslim, and, he wasn’t even a citizen of our country. Most Republicans will still do the same thing at the drop of a hat. After all, it was Karl Rove who famously told reporters that the Bush administration would determine what reality was.But what of Donald Trump? Kellyanne Conartist has moved beyond Karl Rove when it comes to spinning webs of deceit and lies. In fact, she, “Spicy” and Sarah Huckabee Sanders have just taken Rove’s ball and run with it and, in a manner to be expected; in a much less sophisticated way. That’s what happens when you lower the bar. Someone comes along and lowers it even further, if not just lay it on the ground.I hated George W. Bush. I still do and always will. I will never miss him. I don’t care that the Obama’s literally embrace the man. George W. Bush is and was a war criminal. That will not change with time. He was every bit the war criminal that Nixon and his flunky Henry Kissinger were. Trump, of course, appears at least as treasonous as the latter.I don’t have warm and fuzzy feelings about most of the presidents in my lifetime. I hated Nixon. I hated LBJ and it would be very hard for me to muster any affection at all for Bill Clinton, but, with each of those men, yes, even Nixon, I can come up with something positive, even if it’s just a very small thing, to say, and I would, except this post isn’t about those presidents or any of the others I have witnessed. Bush is another matter. He even out did Reagan and maybe the 19th century’s James Buchanan when it came to the horrible president sweepstakes. Talk about your low bars!George W. Bush surrounded himself with despicable advisors. He was the least competent person to have ever held the office of President in modern times, until Trump that is. He was Beavis to Trump’s Butthead, or is it the other way around?There are differences, mostly differences of degree, between the two men though. Bush is more likable as a human being, less coarse than Herr Gropenfuhrer. As evidenced by the photo of Michelle Obama, Bush would never cringe at the touch of an African-American, at least not overtly. Does Bush harbor racism down in his soul? Surely some of his policies and how he won Florida by denying African-American citizens of their voting rights strongly suggest so. But, can you imagine Trump smiling if Michelle or any other accomplished black woman tried to give him a hug? No, Trump would go off on one of his patented “Low IQ” and “Stupid” tirades as he does with other accomplished African-American women such as reporter April Ryan or Rep. Maxine Waters. Besides, if he didn’t, it would hurt him with his supporters. Trump will always outdo Bush when it comes to manifesting overt racism. In fact, he leaves Bush, bad as he was, in the dust.Putin? Bush said he looked into Putin’s eyes and saw a good soul. Trump went ten better.“They” always say that Bush is the kind of guy one would have a beer with. Well, Republicans will say the same thing about newly-minted “Supreme” Court justice Brett “Keg Meister” Kavanaugh. But, yes, I would have a beer with Dubya (but not Kavanaugh). Does that shock you? It shouldn’t. You see; I would have a good reason. I would bring Bush the gift of pretzels: lots and lots of pretzels, bags of ‘em! Hey, George, buddy! Let’s watch a football game! Just you and me, buddy! Have a pretzel, dude!Yeah, like that’ll ever happen. But, let’s make a little list of grievances with Bush, a refresher course, if you will; but notice how so much of this ties in with Trump. The common thread is that both men share a Republican/conservative world-view. Trump is simply building upon that view, horrifically.
• Stealing Florida through the aforementioned racial disenfranchisement. Bush didn’t invent such things but the blatant racism in 2000 did do a good job of harkening back to the pre-Voting Rights legislation Jim Crow days, a time that all Republicans gaze back upon with nostalgia. Bush will always be loved by his party for that. Dishonorable mention goes to his brother Jeb, the then Governor of Florida for implementing the plan.• Now, that the Roberts “Supreme” Court (Chief Justice John Roberts was nominated by Dubya and endorsed by democrat Chuck Schumer) has, in an open act of judicial activism, given us the post voting rights world, Trump and his minions are following the George W. Bush election handbook to a T and then some. Cases in point: Georgia and, once more into the breech, Florida. Trump is taking it further, of course. He and other republicans are screaming “fraud” and calling for stopping the counting of even the votes of military personnel. Remember what I said about once you lower the bar?• The invasion of Iraq: Books are still being written about this one. The toadies of both parties voted for this but one man, George W. Bush, despicably using the dead of 9/11 for his purposes of himself and his backers, pushed them to do it. It was naked politics all the way; that and daddy issues, I suppose. We all know the story by now. People with brains knew it then. Bush destabilized the Middle East and turned a nearly contained al Qaeda in Iraq into ISIS. To this day, Trump will tell his gullible cultists that ISIS was created or invented by Barrack Hussein Obama and/or, depending on the day and what medication he is on, Hillary Clinton. If we were going to do anything back then, we could at least thrown everything we had at Afghanistan and Pakistan. Instead, we’re still there and back in Iraq, hundreds of thousands of civilians are dead, maybe 1 million. Iraqis will never look upon us with anything but hate, and, we have created a new generation of America-hating terrorists who will replace al Qaeda and ISIS. Well done, sir! Oh, and did someone mention war crimes? And, thanks for Dick Cheney, a man as insane as Trump, a man who would fit right in with today’s White House. Kellyanne, in fact could be the love child of Cheney and Trump who now follows Putin’s lead. Who cares about dead and maimed soldiers and dead and maimed civilians and contaminated land when there’s money to be made by war profiteers?• The economic collapse of 2008: Bush went for the typical Republican economic policies and gave them a shot of steroids. It was like Herbert Hoover 1929 all over again. Only some quick thinking, half-realized quick remedies and a president who, owned by many of the same corporate masters, realized that there would be no future and no gravy train for anybody unless some brakes were applied to the madness of the Jamie Dimons of the world. Remember, it was Dimon who supported Obama’s candidacy. So, that’s another lesson about one president is better than another. Always consider the concept of ‘compared to what’ or you’ll fall into the trap of acceptance.• Trump has now removed the brakes the Obama administration put in place and we are now headed for an even bigger crash. Keep in mind that the crash of 2008 took Bush the better part of 8 years and Trump has only been in office for 2 years. A sensible calculation for the start of the next crash doesn’t arrive at 8 years. Since Trump is almost twice as bad with economics as Bush, why not figure on 4 years ‘till doomsday, or less, much less? We’re already in a bull market on most days. Once again, the middle and working classes will bear the brunt. What a surprise! Meanwhile, just like in 2008, the conservative element In our society is, and will, call it all a “correction” instead of a crash.
I won’t be reading Michelle Obama’s book. The picture with Bush is enough for me. There are already to many much more meaningful books I’d love to have time to read, so hers won’t make my list. I’ve heard enough about it to know that she has no time for Trump and can respect Bush. That says enough. We have to be extremely wary of the trap of thinking that someone who was a horrid joke is now somehow better now because someone even worse has come along. That’s a form of appeasement. Trump is simply a descendant of Bush. In the same way, Stalin was worse than the Tsar. Too harsh? Give it time. It’s clear that Trump has totalitarian aspirations and no one is doing a thing to stop him, even when he’s obviously more mentally unstable by the day. I wonder if he likes pretzels.
