Former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson, who later became a Washington Post columnist and vocal critic of Donald Trump, died of cancer at age 58, the Washington Post reports.
Gerson was a truly beautiful writer. His essay on dropping off his son at college is particularly memorable, especially this line: “He has a wonderful future in which my part naturally diminishes. I have no possible future that is better without him close.”
“Former President George W. Bush will hold a public conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky next week with the aim of underscoring the importance of the US continuing to support Ukraine’s war effort against Russia,” CNN reports.
“The event, which will take place in Dallas and be open to the public, comes amid questions about the willingness of the former president’s Republican Party to maintain support for Ukraine.”
“Ari Fleischer has drawn suspicion for announcing the end of his near-annual recounting of the 9/11 attacks after being hired by the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour,” the HuffPost reports.
Former President George W. Bush didn’t have the best things to say about his successor as Texas governor, Rick Perry, when he spoke to Mitt Romney during the 2012 Republican presidential primaries, Insider reports.
Said Bush: “People thought I was dumb. Well, wait till you get a load of this guy.”
“An alleged ISIS-linked operative in the U.S. was plotting to kill George W. Bush, going so far as to travel to Dallas in November to take video around the former president’s home and recruiting help from a team of compatriots he hoped to smuggle into the country over the Mexican border,” Forbes reports.
“Former President George W. Bush gave money to the reelection campaigns of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) in the final months of 2021, a show of support for two of former President Trump’s top Republican targets of the 2022 midterm elections,” The Hill reports.
Bush listed his employment as “former president.”
“Former vice president Richard B. Cheney visited the House floor on Thursday and patiently waited to greet more than a dozen members waiting to shake his hand,” the Washington Post reports.
“They were all Democrats.”
“The man who was once portrayed by the Democratic Party as the dark villain of the Bush administration, responsible for failed wars, ruinous energy policies and torturing America’s enemies in a betrayal of the nation’s values has found common ground with his onetime foes over Jan. 6.”
“George W Bush admitted he knew little about international affairs at his first meeting with Britain’s ambassador to the US,” the Daily Mail reports.
Wrote Christopher Meyer when he met with the then Texas governor in 1998: “Bush admitted that, apart from Mexico, he did not know much about international affairs and that he would do well to broaden his experience… His world view – as he is well aware – is largely limited to the Texan and Mexican horizons.”
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) tweeted a photo of George W. Bush with a message: “I like Republican presidents who win re-election.”
Cheney is being interviewed tonight on 60 Minutes.
“Former president Donald Trump lashed out Monday at former president George W. Bush, saying his fellow Republican had ‘a failed and uninspiring presidency’ and shouldn’t be ‘lecturing’ Americans about the threat posed by domestic terrorism,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Trump: “So interesting to watch former President Bush, who is responsible for getting us into the quicksand of the Middle East (and then not winning!), as he lectures us that terrorists on the ‘right’ are a bigger problem than those from foreign countries that hate America, and that are pouring into our Country right now.”
He added: “If that is so, why was he willing to spend trillions of dollars and be responsible for the death of perhaps millions of people? He shouldn’t be lecturing us about anything. The World Trade Center came down during his watch. Bush led a failed and uninspiring presidency. He shouldn’t be lecturing anybody!”
Just three days after 9/11, President George W. Bush told U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair that the U.S. would attack Iraq, according to Bruce Riedel, former special assistant to President Bush, who broke that news during a Brookings panel discussion this week.
Former President George W. Bush said late Monday that he and former first lady Laura Bush had “been watching the tragic events unfolding in Afghanistan with deep sadness,” Axios reports.
The Bush administration hid the truth about an attack targeting Vice President Dick Cheney, amid fears it was losing the war, the Washington Post reports.
Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush reasserted his support for Donald Trump in a Fox News interview.
Said Bush: “When you look at my policies, I’m all about America First. Trump is the center of the Republican Party. I’m my own man, I support him and we need to carry on that legacy and capture the lightning that he brought to the Republican Party so that we can help all of our fellow Republicans down ballot.”
Hayes Brown: “No matter how you feel about them, the Bush family has been one of the most influential clans in modern U.S. history. Like most political families in the US, the Bushes have stayed loyal to one party — the Republican Party, in their case.”
“But despite an unbroken string of service — including two presidencies, two governorships and a combined 14 years in Congress — the Republican Party has not always returned the favor.”
“Now, the youngest member of the line has decided his political future requires embracing former President Donald Trump, a man who’s gone out of his way to reject and scorn everything his family has done.”
“My argument is, look, when Bushes and Trumps come together, good things happen.”
— Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, in an interview on Fox Radio.
Out this week: The Man I Knew: The Amazing Story of George H. W. Bush’s Post-Presidency by Jean Becker.
A memoir from Bush’s chief of staff for the last 25 years of his life.
Politico: “Trump has one more opportunity to twist the knife, as George P. Bush — the last remaining Bush in public office — prepares to launch a primary challenge Wednesday against Texas GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton.”
“In what’s expected to be a brutal contest pitting the Bush family scion against a scandal-plagued incumbent, Trump’s endorsement will go a long way toward determining the winner. The former president remains popular with the Texas Republican base — so popular that Bush, Jeb Bush’s son and currently the state’s land commissioner, has studiously avoided his family’s entanglements with Trump.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.