Next level, for sure! I would add, though, that on that front Trump has tried and failed thus far. Like, in a really sad and pathetic way. Total loser.
Bush2 and Cheney actually accomplished a lot of evil with the wars, Patriot Act, and indefinite incarceration without filing charges. So points to them.
But I don’t think that Bush ushered in the end times (maybe he did, but I missed it), so that means he is out for the antichrist role. Trump still has a chance and is still trying to fight his fight (although he’s really quite bad at it and will hopefully just give up soon and retreat to one of his ugly homes and drown his sorrows in Big Macs, KFC, and Diet Coke).
Again, I agree with you. I just think it’s important to remember that Bush really did accomplish some bad stuff. He shouldn’t be forgotten just because Trump is such a hog for the spotlight.
While true, that he did not manage to over throw the government, he DID do real and serious damage to our systems, including bringing some white supremacist ideology more fully into the mainstream. The current wave of laws being based in some states that essentially ban certain curriculum and target the LGBQT+ community were made possible in part by him.
Absolutely no arguments from me. I would not say that the old guard GOP since Nixon/Reagan aren’t evil, just an evil that isn’t as destructive to our basic structures that had been improving since the 60s. We had become an actual more representative democracy, and while the previous GOP did some real damage, Trump really has taken a sledge hammer to this stuff (especially with his SCOTUS picks).
■■■■■ killed many many more americans, and possibly more people overall than bush did.
he forced a particular timeline for the afghanistan withdrawal that helped to undermine the afghan army. he abandoned kurds in syria. he assassinated an iranian general on iraqi soil, and let the nuclear deal fall apart. he met with and encouraged dictators.
he separated immigrant children from their parents. some families have still not been reunited because his administration kept no paperwork.
he sent dhs in unmarked cars to pick protestors off the street. he tear gassed peaceful demonstrators. he stole classified documents. he fomented a coup.
for the first two years of his administration, i held strong to the idea that shrub was worse. then for the final two, ■■■■■ went on a path of mad destruction
Also responses to natural disasters. Both had a hurricane they fiddled through, but Trump also had Covid. It’s tough to measure how much any one person contributed but it’s clear he did a lot.
i forgot about both of their terrible hurricane responses. you’re right.
regarding covid, a paper from the lancet suggests 40% of deaths could have been prevented with a normal covid response.
my understanding is: donald was directly responsible for disbanding pandemic preparedness at the cdc, shutting down early testing, hijacking the federal ppe supplies, politicizing masks, and on. he actively undermined america’s response at every turn
The thing is: there is just so much that we do not know about early human history, and we are never going to know these things because so much has been lost to history. And some people just can’t handle that. And when people need a story, charlatan storytellers will be there to make a quick buck.
i do think part of the reason is also the history of archaeology.
while all sciences have been used to create excuses for colonialism, or white supremacy, or the patriarchy - archaeology still grapples with those things(*) because so much of archaeology was, and sometimes still is, story telling.
and while i think more modern archaeology does try to keep close to the data, some archaeologists still use very thin findings to make extensive claims about religion or behavior that the science just isn’t there for
and that maybe leaves the door open for other people to come in and make wild claims
(* i mean some museums still won’t even give artifacts back, or human remains, to the people who they most closely belong to! )
That goes for the major religions too, sadly. It’s been well established that all the major events in the Bible (Noah’s flood, the burning bush, Moses parting the Red Sea, etc) were all cribbed from other myths and stories popular at the time in many different cultures. The more you learn about what we actually know about how the Bible was written and who wrote the different pieces, the more ridiculous it seems how seriously so many people take that book.
No matter how much you disagreed with him, W. had a moral code, principles, a faith. You could believe that he tried to do what he thought was best for America and the world, no matter how wrong he might be, or how much his idea of “best” aligned with “what enriches my family and my cronies”. He was a weak man, a deeply flawed man, and a terrible president, but lazy, entitled, incurious and incompetent as he was, he still understood that his office was a bigger thing than just himself, and tried to do the job of the President.
With Trump, there is no question about any of that. He was all naked greed, blind self-interest and constant narcissistic demand for attention and praise. No serious, honest person can believe that he cared about America or American people, or duty, or the dignity of the office in the slightest.
Plus he seems to genuinely like normal human stuff like dogs and tacos and his family. He never, ever should have been allowed to occupy the White House (the idiot basically broke the planet) but I could imagine peacefully coexisting with the guy if he was a next-door neighbor or something. As far as I can tell Trump has no redeeming qualities at all.
And an exceptionally sociopathic man. He violated international law to start a war on transparently false pretenses, getting hundreds of thousands killed, something which he still seems to think is a joke. Let’s not go too easy on him here…he may have some principles but they still go with being an unrepentant war criminal.
Edit: When we talk about Bush’s moral code, we do remember this is the guy who mocked someone on death row begging not to be killed, right?
Many of which I disagreed with, in part because they were skirting along the lines of support for a theocracy… not all moral codes, etc, are GOOD… Many are not.
Despite or because of his morals, I’d add to that.
