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Miles Archer

(22,390 posts)
Mon Feb 16, 2026, 09:10 AM 18 hrs ago

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

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/

21 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
George W Bush trolls Trump in a President's Day message (Original Post) Miles Archer 18 hrs ago OP
Dubya speaks! North Shore Chicago 18 hrs ago #1
Shocked. Boomerproud 18 hrs ago #4
Voting against Trump doesn't even require limited terms. tirebiter 18 hrs ago #2
Weak sauce, words matter. gab13by13 18 hrs ago #3
He put the ball on the tee. carpetbagger 18 hrs ago #5
DHS & the chimp suegeo 16 hrs ago #9
I sincerely wish George W. Bush had written this Martin Eden 17 hrs ago #6
Indeed..he and Cheney are ones to talk jfz9580m 17 hrs ago #7
The systematic campaign of LIES to conflate 9/11 with Iraq is what energized me politically Martin Eden 15 hrs ago #10
Thanks a lot for not endorsing Kamala! Grumpy Old Guy 16 hrs ago #8
I say let him run for a third term. America is already fed up and that's not changing. bucolic_frolic 15 hrs ago #11
I think Bush is just mad the the Neocons lost power. Remember Bush wanted to BE the dictator. Multichromatic 15 hrs ago #12
Big deal for him. His lips have been glued together until now. Joinfortmill 11 hrs ago #13
Too little, too late biophile 8 hrs ago #14
Holy effin shit malaise 8 hrs ago #15
Hi Malaise jfz9580m 55 min ago #21
When George W Bush kwolf68 8 hrs ago #16
That's pretty lame . JI7 8 hrs ago #17
Lol dub Faux pas 6 hrs ago #18
Shade from Dubya is sunshine gulliver 5 hrs ago #19
You mean the guy who started a war for no reason? mucifer 5 hrs ago #20

carpetbagger

(5,439 posts)
5. He put the ball on the tee.
Mon Feb 16, 2026, 09:35 AM
18 hrs ago

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

(3,125 posts)
9. DHS & the chimp
Mon Feb 16, 2026, 11:30 AM
16 hrs ago

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

(15,478 posts)
6. I sincerely wish George W. Bush had written this
Mon Feb 16, 2026, 10:08 AM
17 hrs ago

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

jfz9580m

(16,727 posts)
7. Indeed..he and Cheney are ones to talk
Mon Feb 16, 2026, 10:22 AM
17 hrs ago

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

(15,478 posts)
10. The systematic campaign of LIES to conflate 9/11 with Iraq is what energized me politically
Mon Feb 16, 2026, 11:55 AM
15 hrs ago

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

(4,270 posts)
8. Thanks a lot for not endorsing Kamala!
Mon Feb 16, 2026, 11:28 AM
16 hrs ago

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

bucolic_frolic

(54,588 posts)
11. I say let him run for a third term. America is already fed up and that's not changing.
Mon Feb 16, 2026, 12:14 PM
15 hrs ago

I doubt Reagan could have won a third term.

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

jfz9580m

(16,727 posts)
21. Hi Malaise
Tue Feb 17, 2026, 02:45 AM
55 min ago

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..

kwolf68

(8,356 posts)
16. When George W Bush
Mon Feb 16, 2026, 07:34 PM
8 hrs ago

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

gulliver

(13,828 posts)
19. Shade from Dubya is sunshine
Mon Feb 16, 2026, 09:50 PM
5 hrs ago

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

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