If you’ve been following the news recently, you may have noticed an old name popping up much more than usual. George W. Bush has recently made appearances on both “The Ellen Show” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live”, has given interviews to several news agencies and has received praise from prominent Democratic leaders such as Nancy Pelosi. Bush has publicly spoken about his new book and also given his input on Donald Trump’s new policies in several of these situations. But this new phenomenon goes beyond just the news media and the Washington big shots; scrolling through comments on articles, Facebook feeds, and even Twitter tags, one is bound to see a few “really makes you miss W” or “should’ve appreciated Bush when we had him” remarks.
At first consideration, it’s easy to see why. With the new madness that Donald Trump has brought to American politics, the general public is looking fondly upon its former years with previous commanders in chief. Since GWB was the most recent Republican before dear old Donald, it’s natural that the comparison should start there. While Bush Junior may not have spent his nights making a fool out of himself in 140 characters, the pseudo liberals who are singing his praises (famous or everyday people) ought to be ashamed of themselves for the ease with which they forgive and forget.
In regards to Trump’s recent immigration policy move concerning people from predominantly Muslim nations, Bush Junior was quoted as saying that “It’s very important for all of us to recognize one of our great strengths is for people to worship the way they want to or not worship at all. I mean the bedrock of our freedom — a bedrock of our freedom is the right to worship freely.” Those of us who were not so lucky as to benefit from America’s glorious freedom of religion in a Christian sense remember the sudden upswing in attacks on not just innocent Muslims, but also Sikhs, Hindus, and others who had the look of one of those “brown terrorists” post-9/11. Further, the increased discrimination that those of South Asian and Middle Eastern descent began facing in airports as a result of the Patriot Act is still felt today.
Bush’s suggestion that the American public’s freedom to practice any religion was preserved and protected under his presidency is laughable.
Before Democrats grasping at straws began thunking of them with nostalgia and fondness, much of the American public and the rest of the world viewed dynamic duo Bush and Cheney as war criminals. The brutal torture of prisoners of war, the initiation of devastating events in both Afghanistan and Iraq, the pretense of a search for weapons of mass destruction that were never found and more all drained America of trillions of dollars and the world of citizens from every hemisphere.
And finally, let us not ignore those simpering few who say in earnest, “at least he was a nice guy!” George W. Bush may have had better manners than Donald Trump, but the fundamentals of his character are no more admirable than what we’re currently dealing with in the Oval Office. I’m the first person to point out that Donald Trump’s connections and inheritance pushed him to the successful place he reached; I’m also the first to say the same about Bush. Bush earned everything from his admittance to Yale to his position as governor of Texas through knowing the right people, not through his remarkable skill or intelligence. His family connections carried him all the way to the White House where he proceeded to destroy American values and integrity day by day.
To fall into this trap of diminishing the horrors of the past in light of the chaos of the present sets a dangerous precedent.
Everyone’s heard that history, if forgotten, is destined to repeat itself. If in two or three presidencies someone worse than Donald Trump were to come along, would we start inviting him to talk on Ellen? Will he become the new hero of a social trend created by faux progressives? Will we ask for his input on the new POTUS’s foreign policy, since his own was so well thought out? We laugh at the idea now, but, ask yourself: wouldn’t we have done the same to those questions about GWB nine years ago?
