Bush’s “rehabilitation” is based on Americans’ relationship to the invasion of Iraq. At the outset, most Americans supported the invasion, over the years, as victory wasn’t exactly swift and decisive, most Americans turned against the war and Bush, by extension.
But Americans don’t actually understand why the invasion was evil. They just know “Iraq war bad”. If you could do a Vulcan mind meld on them, what you probably discover is most Americans eventually turned against the war for reasons like “we didn’t win right away so why are we there?” and “everyone around me is against it now too”.
So by not being tethered to any principled anti-imperialist or anti-war stance, over time Americans have really stopped caring about Iraq - and Americans in general don’t give a shit if their military kills a million people in their name on a good day. Since the Iraq war no longer carries any significance for Americans, their reasons for disliking Bush kinda go away too. They can’t remember why they didn’t like Bush. So they see him painting pictures of dogs and sharing candy, and that’s the only thing that sticks in their brains. The same dynamics just aren’t there for Trump, totally different situation.
Btw I don’t agree that W has been rehabilitated by liberals at large. I know plenty of them IRL that still hate W. I think it’s more an “independent” or centrist thing, or libs on Reddit which is no way indicative of real life.
W does get more points from people as well because of Cheney; it was very easy to look in on that admin and immediately assume that Cheney was actually running things, as if that should absolve Bush of things
The argument I always have with the libs in my life is when I say that I think Bush did more harm/was "worse" than Trump. The ones who think critically at all usually tepidly agree when I bring up just how many more deaths Bush is directly responsible for, but the ones who are lost in that culture war sauce just continue lamenting Trump's killing of our precious norms and respect for the way things are done.
Bush’s “rehabilitation” is based on Americans’ relationship to the invasion of Iraq. At the outset, most Americans supported the invasion, over the years, as victory wasn’t exactly swift and decisive, most Americans turned against the war and Bush, by extension.
The political class at that time blamed everything on Cheney and Rumsfeld as if Dubya wasn't their boss. It was more like people turning against the war, and Cheney and Rumsfeld by extension and Dubya by extension extension.
No, I don’t think so.
Bush’s “rehabilitation” is based on Americans’ relationship to the invasion of Iraq. At the outset, most Americans supported the invasion, over the years, as victory wasn’t exactly swift and decisive, most Americans turned against the war and Bush, by extension.
But Americans don’t actually understand why the invasion was evil. They just know “Iraq war bad”. If you could do a Vulcan mind meld on them, what you probably discover is most Americans eventually turned against the war for reasons like “we didn’t win right away so why are we there?” and “everyone around me is against it now too”.
So by not being tethered to any principled anti-imperialist or anti-war stance, over time Americans have really stopped caring about Iraq - and Americans in general don’t give a shit if their military kills a million people in their name on a good day. Since the Iraq war no longer carries any significance for Americans, their reasons for disliking Bush kinda go away too. They can’t remember why they didn’t like Bush. So they see him painting pictures of dogs and sharing candy, and that’s the only thing that sticks in their brains. The same dynamics just aren’t there for Trump, totally different situation.
Btw I don’t agree that W has been rehabilitated by liberals at large. I know plenty of them IRL that still hate W. I think it’s more an “independent” or centrist thing, or libs on Reddit which is no way indicative of real life.
I kind of lean this way
W does get more points from people as well because of Cheney; it was very easy to look in on that admin and immediately assume that Cheney was actually running things, as if that should absolve Bush of things
The argument I always have with the libs in my life is when I say that I think Bush did more harm/was "worse" than Trump. The ones who think critically at all usually tepidly agree when I bring up just how many more deaths Bush is directly responsible for, but the ones who are lost in that culture war sauce just continue lamenting Trump's killing of our precious norms and respect for the way things are done.
The political class at that time blamed everything on Cheney and Rumsfeld as if Dubya wasn't their boss. It was more like people turning against the war, and Cheney and Rumsfeld by extension and Dubya by extension extension.
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