President Barack Obama laughs with former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, prior to the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, April 25, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Last week, former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama attacked, directly and indirectly, current president Donald Trump.
Without disputing their points, think for a second what it might mean when two former presidents break the unwritten code of not criticizing your successors, in the same week no less.
The establishment is scared.
The establishment is afraid of Donald Trump. He represents an uncontrollable variable in an otherwise very choreographed Washington, D.C.
But whether you agree or disagree with the criticisms levied by Bush and Obama (the latter of whom spent nearly eight years criticizing the former, only now to agree with him), look at the records of the two themselves. Neither is a paragon of presidential success.
Between Bush and Obama, the national debt has been skyrocketing for sixteen years straight.
Bush started two unwinnable wars fought with the failed “counterinsurgency” playbook of General David Petraeus. Obama ruined any hope of victory in those wars while at the same time continuing to lavishly fund the “Overseas Contingency Operations” sucking American blood and treasure like a swarm of leaches. Then Obama encouraged the Arab Spring uprisings, most notably by bombing Moammar Qaddafi’s Libyan military. These uprisings destabilized the Middle East, making way for the rise of ISIS. Libya remains embroiled in a civil war all these years later.
On the domestic front Bush miserably failed to complete his main campaign promise of reforming Social Security. And Obama was unfortunately successful in enacting Obamacare, one of the most flawed pieces of legislation in history. America is still dealing with the consequences of these actions.
Both presidents stood by while hordes of illegal immigrants crossed the border unchecked, bringing with them gang violence, drugs, and demands on social services that have sapped America’s money and spirit.
These and other failures have been the hallmarks of the last two failed establishment presidencies. What could be worse?
The establishment is simply afraid of Trump. He’s not part of Washington’s “go-along to get-along” culture, and that is the biggest threat there is to the current order in the nation’s capital. It almost seems as if they are afraid he might succeed.
