George W Bush trolls Trump in a President's Day message

[Miles Archer]

The piece, which pays homage to George Washington, is the inaugural entry in a new history project called “In Pursuit,” and while it does not name President Donald Trump, it does seem to shade him, The New York Times reported.

“Our first president could have remained all-powerful, but twice he chose not to,” Bush wrote. “In doing so, he set a standard for all presidents to live up to.”

The first president’s decision to relinquish control of the U.S. Army after the American Revolution and to step down from the presidency after two terms “ensured America wouldn’t become a monarchy, or worse,” Bush added.

His words seemed heavy with subtext, considering the current occupant of the White House tried to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, and is now threatening to run for a third, illegal presidential term.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/george-w-bush-subtly-trashes-donald-trump-in-presidents-day-message/

[North Shore Chicago]

1. Dubya speaks!

I knew he was able.

[Boomerproud]

4. Shocked.

Seriously.

[tirebiter]

2. Voting against Trump doesn't even require limited terms.

Democracy isn’t automatic.

[gab13by13]

3. Weak sauce, words matter.

[carpetbagger]

5. He put the ball on the tee.

He might be concerned that the outcome was not a patrician as unitary executive, but the dream of a plutocratic strongman is his dream and the product of his policies and court.

He's a former president, he can hold a news conference, speak (for him) directly and clearly, and people will listen.

[suegeo]

9. DHS & the chimp

George W. Asshole and the asshole republicans allowed Sept 11 to happen. Then, with the populace traumatized, they restructured government and put much of it under department of homeland security.

Cities under Noem's ICE siege are now, present day, paying a high price--monetarily and physically and mentally.

W.'s DHS needs to be broken apart, some parts eliminated. Defunded.

I still hate him and all republicans.

[Martin Eden]

6. I sincerely wish George W. Bush had written this

From inside a prison cell where he belongs for war crimes.

[jfz9580m]

7. Indeed..he and Cheney are ones to talk

He was POTUS when I was a grad student in the US in my first 8 years in the country and confirmed my impression that the GOP is crazy.

I remembered something this morning. It is not as well known as Stewart’s takedown of Carlson, but it was just as cool:

Bush and Cheney remain war criminals..Transactionalism and kayfabe are emerging curses of this new lousy next phase of society. Absent honest populism and honest expertise we are screwed not screwn.

I mean I am in fullon masks off ruffianly rabble mode, but never ahistorical..I would have preferred to have been in semi-respectable drag ;-/..

[Martin Eden]

10. The systematic campaign of LIES to conflate 9/11 with Iraq is what energized me politically

I joined DU 24 years ago at the age of 44, and went to protests before the war was launched in March 2023.

I watched Colbert's roast when it happened.

I was crushed when GW got a 2nd term, and lost faith in American voters. Obama was such a relief, I thought no president would ever again be as bad as Bush.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

8. Thanks a lot for not endorsing Kamala!

You had a chance to do the right thing, and you blew it. History will not be kind to you.

[bucolic_frolic]

11. I say let him run for a third term. America is already fed up and that's not changing.

I doubt Reagan could have won a third term.

In times of war or good prosperity and policy, third terms are earned.

[Multichromatic]

12. I think Bush is just mad the the Neocons lost power. Remember Bush wanted to BE the dictator.

https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-the-president-elect-following-meeting-with-congressional-leaders

[Joinfortmill]

13. Big deal for him. His lips have been glued together until now.

[biophile]

14. Too little, too late

[malaise]

15. Holy effin shit

He finally found his mouth?

[jfz9580m]

21. Hi Malaise

I found my mouth too recently ;-/.
Thank you for your insights..You were one of many key figures in helping me break out of a mechanical mode of thought.


Maybe I will explain less incoherently some day. It is not usually internet stuff, but important. I am not American and am never coming to the US again, because I have already seen it once. And I have a lot of affection for the country as I learnt any science I know there. My memories of America are generally as pleasant as my memories of India for the most part.
Corporations and corporate friendly politicians need a check asap though. Were I an American I would be squarely in the Warren/Bernie Sanders/Talarico etc. wing.

But though I am not American, I will always be a DUer. This place has helped me recover from some set backs and as someone with no social media presence as I gear up for some unpleasant but necessary legal confrontations, this place has been a lifesaver.
And grassroots DUers like you and all the others are the reason.
I am not normally this touchy feely ;-/. But it has been a rough ride.

If I inflict jfz9580m’s enthralling rampage through life again on anyone, it will be another democracy without crazy narcotics laws and outside some sort of secure pet corridor, but in the least crazy portions of the real world..

Thank you Malaise. You have no idea how much I have relied on absolutely real people like you.
I trust this one journalist Yasha Levine a lot and he identifies stuff I vaguely intuit, but am not well read enough nor astute enough to identify about the society of the spectacle and the deforming of reality a la Existenz.
But it has made me develop a very human sixth sense on trust and as the only board I read, you guys have been as invaluable to me as the specific left wing media (Chris Ketcham, Nathan Robinson’s Current Affairs, Yasha Levine, Evgenia Kovda, Ed Zitron, Andy Nikiforuk) I follow.

The only time I sound a bit like an adbot 🤭 is when extolling the virtues of left wing media or EarlG/elad(which would have been atypical any other time except this damn moronic permacrisis).

But for someone who stubbornly refuses to meet real people except for work or hospital visits (I’d have to leave my room! I like my room! ;-/ life eh…And I mean, I walk around in my garden and yard so I am not a shut in! Though I should go out into lonely, natural spaces ) finding the rare real humans to follow when cut off from colleagues has been genuinely valuable..

[malaise]

22. Wow! Glad you found yours.

I sure won’t br visiting the US until he’s out of office.
I have generations of family and most of my siblings and their peeps in the US. I also have many close friends but it’s not worth the stress.
I always loved US libraries, museums, bookstores and a few great stores.

My eyes were always wide open and while some strides have been made, the scabs have been torn off the racist and sexist wounds by this cabal.
It is ironic that much of what we’re seeing from Donvict’s domestic policy was inflicted by the US and others on more than a few countries in our hemisphere and across the planet.
And yet there are still millions of Americans who believe in the dream.

Add
Like you I am a democratic socialist😀

[kwolf68]

16. When George W Bush

is the moral equivalent of Ghandi and the intellectual peer to Einstein when compared to the current regime, that's saying something.

[JI7]

17. That's pretty lame .

[Faux pas]

18. Lol dub

it takes one to know one huh?

[gulliver]

19. Shade from Dubya is sunshine

Dubya caused a ton of the problems we have now. Without Dubya, there would have been no Trump.

[mucifer]

20. You mean the guy who started a war for no reason?

[NNadir]

23. Just like I took Liz Cheney's support in opposing the Pedophile, I'll take this weak support as well.

I am never going to love either of them but I am going to emulate virulently anti-communist Winston Churchill, also a highly flawed man, who said, when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, "If Hitler invaded Hell, I would feel it necessary to say something nice about the devil in the House of Commons."

It's a paraphrase but close I think.

[Miles Archer]

25. There are 3 categories

1). Full-throated enthusiastic support for Trump

2). Condemnation of Trump

3). Silence

Bush has largely been living in category 3. His comments are a couple of baby steps from that to category 2. Not exactly a Stephen Colbert of Jimmy Kimmell opening monologue, but yeah. It's better than him staying out of the conversation altogether.

[Javaman]

24. a troll trolls a troll. nt