General Douglas MacArthur casts a long shadow on American history for any number of reasons, not least of which is his famous farewell: “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.” American presidents used to be like that as well. Until the advent of Barack Obama, it was more or less traditional for former presidents to refrain from commenting on their successor’s policies, their successes, or their failures.
That’s all changed now. But one former president, George W. Bush, is showing a little bit of class in staying out of the war of words surrounding the 2024 presidential contest. Or is he?
Former President George W. Bush does not plan to reveal whom he will vote for in the upcoming 2024 election.
“No,” the former president’s office said when asked by NBC News whether he or former First Lady Laura Bush would endorse a candidate publicly. “President Bush retired from presidential politics years ago.”
Bush’s refusal to make a public endorsement comes just a day after his former vice president, Dick Cheney, announced that he would go against his party’s candidate and support Vice President Kamala Harris in November.
It’s a crying shame that George W. Bush’s former vice president and some of their staff members aren’t showing similar restraint. Dick “Darth Vader” Cheney, among others, has bolted to the other side. That’s hard to forgive, to say the least.
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Here’s the thing, though: Former President Bush has made endorsements in the past. This restraint appears to be a development since, well, 2016. You might remember who the GOP candidate was in 2016.
While Bush’s office argued the former president “retired from presidential politics years ago,” he has made endorsements of Republican presidential candidates in the past. In 2008, he supported then-Senator John McCain’s bid against former President Barack Obama and also threw his weight behind the 2012 candidacy of Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah.
Bush’s stance on presidential politics seemingly changed with the emergence of former President Donald Trump in 2016, whom Bush avoided commenting on. Bush instead focused on supporting Republican senators. In November, his office said that he and the former first lady did not vote for either major party candidate in the 2016 election.
So, maybe not quite the restraint we thought it was – it seems that former President Bush only chose to fade away after Donald Trump came down that gold escalator. That’s revealing.
The Bushes are, of course, free to vote as they please, and at least – unlike, say, Dick Cheney – they appear to be following my mother’s old rule, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” So maybe the Bushes don’t care for Donald Trump. But it seems well to the left of insane for them to bolt to the far left and, in the case of Cheney, to endorse Kamala Harris, who is not only manifestly unfit for the job but who is also the most far-left ideologue to ever seek the White House.
This is in large part due to the mess Donald Trump has left the GOP establishment types in. Like the famous bull in a china shop, Donald Trump has made a real mess and, in so doing, shone a bright light into some dark corners. That’s a good thing, and it should be repeated every day and twice on Sunday. It’s a shame the old establishment types aren’t able to see that.
