RawStory has a piece up by “DC Commentary” in the form of an open letter to George W. Bush, imploring 43 to save the Republic — and opining that he’s actually got the wherewithal to do it. Now, at first blush, I thought the author was DC Comics, but after reading the entire piece, I have to admit there are a few interesting points made. One could even say that there’s a perverse logic. The central argument is that only Bush possesses the “moral authority and the political influence to stop Trump’s dismantling of our republic.”
While this piece was presumably meant seriously, I confess to reading it as tongue in cheek because the first thing the author does is establish that former (H.W.) Bush attorney general Bill Barr
…has betrayed his oath and the Constitution. As a devout Catholic, he will have to answer to his Lord for betraying his country, a sin that puts him in the Ninth Circle of Dante’s Hell.
I’m sure he’ll take comfort in that there will plenty of modern-day Republicans there with him.
Yep, that image makes sense to me, because I’ve seen it in my own mind many times — Guiliani, McConnell, Paul Ryan, all of them in the place where shadows of flames dance on the walls, while Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson pathetically shriek, “I didn’t know it would end like this,” as demons with chef’s hats chase them around throwing lava rocks at them — to tenderize them for a satanic stew. By the way, if you never read my parody on C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters and the Republican party, now’s a great time to do so. Here’s the link, it’s very funny.
Back to Dubya being our salvation, here’s the reasoning why he is “the last man at the Alamo” and
a 21st Century Cinncinnatus, who served, retired and then served again when the Roman republic needed him. You still stand tall in Republican, conservative and evangelical circles, Mr. President. Your voice denouncing Trump and calling for his removal from office could not be ignored. And you can provide political cover for Republican senators and representatives who privately agree but have not been able to speak out or stand up to Trump’s bullying. […]
Mr. President, you know Trump must go. He must be impeached. He must be tried and convicted in the Senate and removed from the White House. He and his family and his entire crime syndicate must be hauled before the courts, indicted, tried, convicted and imprisoned. He and his family must be broken. Made destitute. Reduced to begging on the streets. Anything less, and they will use their remaining millions of dollars to march across the country, rousing Trump’s minions and imploring them to finish off our government and Constitution. Donald Trump is the enemy of the people.
Today, you, Mr. President, are the only person in the country with the moral authority and the political influence to stop Trump’s dismantling of our republic. Other Republican leaders won’t do it. They demonstrated over the first two years of the Trump era that they have no honor, no integrity and no fealty to our way of government. And no Democrat can pierce the miasma of right-wing propaganda to muster the moral outrage of Republican voters and Trump’s MAGAloids. They will dismiss any calls for Trump’s removal made by Nancy Pelosi, Charles Schumer, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, any Democrat now on the national stage.
So, there you have it, Dubya rising from the ashes to embrace the Democratic cause and become the hero of the left. I wonder if the writer of this piece has ever met a Republican? Because the ones I know don’t care if you’re an ax murderer and a rapist, if you’ve got an “R” behind your name and will vote for measures that will increase their bottom line. That’s GOP dogma in a nutshell.
Plus, if Dubya would do this, he wouldn’t be taking on Trump solely, but would also be assuming Jesusonian proportions, by exposing the fake Christianity of the likes of Jerry Falwell, Franklin Graham and Mike Pence. Dubya would be doing the modern day equivalent of turning over the tables in the temple of the money changers. Dubya? Seriously? Can you envision Dubya rising, Phoenix-like, from the ashes of his trashed reputation as one of the worst presidents in history “a minor president who squandered his moment,” as this writer puts it, and single-handedly purge not only the nation of Trump, but the Republican party of all it’s devisive phonies, as well?
My first take on this may have been right, it was written by DC Comics. All that’s missing here is an image of Dubya in a Captain America costume, dropping his shield on his foot. Here’s the writer’s last line: “Lead the march to stop this tyrant, Mr. President, and history will forever know you as the Savior of the Republic.”
Friends, if it comes down to nothing but Dubya standing between us and ruination, then fucked we are, as Yoda would have put it. No, salvation is not going to be found in George W. Bush, it’s going to be found in an engaged electorate who comes out to vote — and, pray to God, in a Democratic party that unifies like it has never unified before. That’s where our salvation is.
But read this piece in it’s entirety, because it’s an interesting slant that you won’t see everyday. As Dubya said about Trump’s inauguration speech, “That was some strange shit.” So is this open letter.
As if…
“As if” what — as if Dubya would do it if Dubya could?
Maybe we should take a vote on this piece. Poll question: Do you think the author was serious, or was this snark? Because I swear to God when reading it, I was having doubts. It’s that borderline.
He’d never do it, they still want to make George P. President.
One thing to remember before we try to canonise Dubya.
Barr was his man first. Barr started his nefarious deeds under Republican rule back then. Republicans have always been Republicans.
Trumpism is just the distilled essence of republicanism, the full fruit of the early flowering.
That’s a beautiful turn of phrase, “the distilled essence of republicanism, the full fruit of the early flowering.” I’m stealing it. Yes, that’s it. All of the Republican presidents have contained some essence of Trump, but he and he alone is the culmination of every single aspect of everything that was always rotten in the party, all in one candidate. It’s like taking gene splices from all of them, and put them all together, Trump is what you get.
And of course the supreme irony of it is that Trump never wanted to be in politics in the first place — not for the purpose of being in politics. It’s just another game to him, show biz, visibility, status. Incredible, huh?
Thanks for your kind words, go ahead, take the quote. It’s autumn here in NZ and we’re making jams and chutneys to keep the tastes of summer alive through the winter. There was a storm earlier in the year which decimated the blossoms, now we have less fruit. Maybe that knowledge colored or flavored my thinking.
The questions this made me consider:
1. Would Bush even want to do this? On the left we consider this administration a horror show. The Bush family’s position might be described as saying they don’t think it’s a horror show…they think it’s a perfectly good rom-com, they just don’t like who’s been cast in the lead. Metaphors aside – Barr, Bolton, Kavanaugh…these are guys who ran in Bush circles. Bush might very well approve of them and what they’re doing overall, even if he dislikes Trump. That might lend Bush to being more in the “wait it out” camp.
Plus…let’s remember that Bush is craven, and a coward. He has this gigantic trump card of later saying “yes he was bad, but the peaceful transition of power in our country means it’s inappropriate for a former president to take direct action against a sitting blah blah blah.” I predict he’d use that to hide and avoid actually taking responsibility and showing leadership…because I sat through eight years of him and that’s who he is.
2. Assume he did stand up in opposition…would it sway the GOP and their base at all? I’m unconvinced. In my lifetime, the base on the right worships whomever is in power no matter how bad they are, and they absolutely reject anyone and everything that stands in opposition…even other Republicans, and even those they previously worshipped. Romney and McCain got no respect for opposing Trump. Graham opposed him as an immoral grifter, gambler and adulterer, and his “moral majority” constituents almost ran him out of office, therefore his transformation into a sycophantic cheerleader with a case of the vapors and time someone says a negative word about Trump.
I’m not convinced that if Bush stood up, the base wouldn’t say “this proves you’re a Rino and we hated you the whole time but just never admitted it.”
I agree with every point you make. Thanks for dropping by and making them. I totally can’t see Dubya doing a damn thing to stop Trump from anything. Yes, Dubya would rather have Romney or his brother Jeb, or anybody he can relate to in office, but that is a completely different posture from actually opposing a sitting Republican “president.” I don’t see Dubya standing up for anything.
And he is a coward. I sat through the same eight years you did.
With respect to Graham: I swear to God he reminds me of a character in a sci fi movie where the aliens have done a mind control procedure on him and now he’s one of them. That is how weird his transformation to Trumpite is to me. People switch sides in politics all the time, but I have never seen anything like this.
This writer did come up with a new word, “MAGAloid, which I like a lot and will use. Cross between MAGAt and mongoloid. It works for me. I like it better than MAGAt, actually.
I’m more thinking of a really bad Modesto State College drunken dinner theater production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof when I see Graham go through his absurd pedantic performances.
But whichever…if it weren’t so sad and horrible it’d be hilariously pathetic.
First of all if G.W. could NOT stop the GOP/Russian Mob/Putin from rigging the GOP Primary (Jeb won) to get Trump in as the GOP Party nominee for 2016, so what makes you think he has any pull now against the Russian Mob controlled Congress?
Second of all, G.W. is NOT a man of conviction about anything. When has he ever stuck his neck out publicly since leaving office except for a couple charity appearances? As long as he’s got his on his Prairie Chapel Ranch he really DOESN’T CARE what happens to the USA.
I didn’t know the GOP primary was rigged. Do you have any information on that? At the time this was going on, I was in a health crisis, and all I remember is that it looked like Trump was going to get the GOP nomination and I freaked. I remember lying in bed, hearing it on the radio, and saying, “Oh my God, he can’t be entrusted with the nuclear codes. This can’t happen.” That’s how it all started, and here we are today.
It wasn’t rigged. The GOP had been priming their base for decades for a candidate running primarily on demonizing “the other.” By the time guys like Jeb! and Rubio arrived on scene, with nice words about immigrants, the base was too far gone. Back in 2005, W. proposed much-needed comprehensive immigration reform, and the right turned on him like a pack of wild dogs, calling him a “closet liberal” and “a secret Democrat.”
Thanks, Ursula, for a brief flight of fantasy and your ever so insightful analysis of this open letter buffoonery.
I take it you read the link to my Screwtape parody for “brief flight of fantasy?” Maybe I’ll try to write another one of those. The political scene is so totally nuts that it actually lends itself to that kind of satire.
As to the open letter — Sweet Jesus, strangest thing I’ve read in quite a while.
Thanks for stopping by to read.
While Trump has made him look better by contrast, I do not forgive George W Bush for what his contributions in getting us to where we are.
I not only don’t forgive Dubya, I truly don’t think that he’s got the muscle, with anybody, to convince the Republicans to take down Trump of their own accord. No, they’re going to ride the Trump Trash Train until it derails of its own weight, and then they’re all going to claim that they personally had nothing to do with it. Watch and see.
I’ve been saying since the beginning that they would disown Trump the way they did W when this is over (perhaps even moreso, since W is the lesser scion of Republican royalty and Trump is a mere interloper and usurper). What will interest me is their ability to get away with it, given the online media archive that will objectively document their support forever and ever. Nothing on the Internet ever dies.