Remember “W”? Ten years ago he was the worst president we’ve ever had.
He started two wars he couldn’t win in Iraq and Afghanistan which destabilized the Middle East and left it in a state of civil wars. While he was doing that, he pursued economic policies that led to a worldwide financial implosion. He lied about “weapons of mass destruction” and the connections between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, etc., etc.
I’m glad he’s gone, and I never thought I would ever miss him.
However, a day doesn’t go by that Trump does something that makes Bush appear, well, presidential.
Not so bad
I’ve noticed a number of people remembering that Bush II “wasn’t so bad.” But he was!
Under Bush II, Cheney and Rumsfeld were reunited. Not only did they start illegal wars, but they dismantled major parts of the Constitution that no President since has repaired. Unwarranted spying on Americans? Check. Clamp down on freedom of speech and assembly? Check. Torture as a US policy? Check. Stealing the trillions in surplus and redirecting to friends? Check. The list goes on. It was a daily attack on all of us.
Trump doesn’t attack us. He bumbles and blathers and is frequently foolish, but he’s not calculatingly evil on a daily basis. (He’s evil every few weeks… : ) ).
The biggest difference is support. Bush had the flag at his side and to criticize him was to poke Uncle Sam in the eye. After 9-11, his popularity soared. Democrats fell into line. No one dared challenge our leaders. Everyone had a flag or a ribbon magnet. Support the troops!
Remember Clear Channel cancelling any songs of protest from their playlist? The Dixie Chicks being taken out for saying Bush embarrassed them? Those were very dark times, with a McCarthy-like mob of Americans supporting Bush and Cheney. It was awful.
Bush and Cheney turned us into a little Soviet bloc – asking people to report on suspicious behavior led to an enormous amount of scared people calling the authorities for normal behavior.
Remember taking shoes off at airports? The no-fly list. Katrina. Ugh… these things are etched in my brain. Signing statements. Axis of evil. Joy-riding donors in a submarine surfacing into a Japanese boat. Requiring a passport to go to Canada.
Obama promised hope and change to get us out of it. He (and Clinton as Sec of State) kept the spying on citizens going, increased drone killings, kept the wars going, added more wars, gave favors to bankers, etc. Less than inspiring.
The main complaint I hear against Trump is that he isn’t presidential. That’s a surface-level complaint. He doesn’t look the part. We’d have a similar complaint if we went to the dentist and found them wearing workout clothes. “Not very dental,” we’d exclaim. But the complaint isn’t really about the actions taken by the dentist, just how s/he is coming across to us on first glance.
I have some specific things about Trump I dislike. His racism and sexism is from a bygone era, he is self-centered, he seems to ignore professional advice, he throws anyone around him under the bus as necessary. And he seems to make dumb mistakes (ie, talking about ongoing legal cases is something most lawyers advise clients to avoid.)
But Trump doesn’t have much support. Not the flag-waving levels Bush II saw. People are actively organized against him and his policies – the first real burst of activism since the anti-war marches under Bush II. The only people who don’t seem organized against him working on a clear plan and specific issues is the mainstream Democrats. Citizens are doing the work, but congressfolk are uninspiring for the most part. What will Democrats do if they take Congress this fall? They won’t say.
I’m happy to agree that Trump isn’t a great leader. I’m hesitant to elevate his evil genius to the scale of Bush/Cheney, though. They still win my prize.
Presidential?
Any time you feel inclined to (mis)remember Dubya as “presidential,” please look at the photo posted with this piece. That IS what he looked like. LOL.
Also, everything Chris said.
"etc., etc."
I was being lazy.
You covered it well.
Bush
He(Bush) does seem to have become a better human behind the scene as a common citizen now free from the controlling powers to be under Cheney’s charge. However Trump who claims to have come to drain the swamp will be the first to go down the drain, that is if he doesn’t clog it up all over again in the process.