George P. Bush’s Trump endorsement puts politics above decency
Shrewd. Calculating. Unconvincing.
These are the words that came to mind when I read of George P. Bush’s decision to split with his family and urge his party to support Donald Trump as the Republican presidential nominee.
“From Team Bush, it’s a bitter pill to swallow, but you know what? You get back up and you help the man that won, and you make sure that we stop Hillary Clinton,” the 40-year-old Texas land commissioner told the State Republican Executive Committee at a Saturday meeting, according to an attendee’s video that went viral on YouTube.
For a rising star young politician who serves as the party’s victory chair in Texas, Bush’s move wasn’t terribly surprising. It resembled the tacit nod of other painfully uncomfortable Republicans who split hairs between “endorsing” Trump and “supporting” him, and who make half-hearted distinctions between the man himself and the man’s latest despicable sound bite.
So, why did Bush’s words sting so badly?
Some of us concerned Americans — including, say, the 50 senior Republican national security officials from Nixon to George W. Bush who signed a letter the other day declaring Trump a national security risk — are past the point of caring about political considerations.
We’re past the point of pretending that a guy who whispers sweet nothings to Vladimir Putin, badmouths NATO, insults the grieving family of a war hero, touts his illiteracy like an honorary degree, and has the emotional control of a nap-deprived 3-year-old is a normal presidential nominee deserving of traditional partisan deference.
We need brave souls to stand up and call a joker a joker. We need young voices to drown out, or at least moderate, the frustrations and fear of the older generation. We need serious public servants to stop cloaking Trump’s radical agenda in the awkward embrace of mainstream conservatism.
We need someone with a good
head on his shoulders, a nice smile, and GOP credibility to stand up and point out this farce. Who better than George P., who watched Trump belittle his father, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and drag his mother into the ring of a contentious Republican presidential primary by suggesting her Mexican heritage swayed Jeb Bush’s policy positions on immigration?
But George P. passed on the opportunity.
Republicans stand up
His move is understandable, given his responsibility to unite his party, promote lower-ballot candidates and build rapport with the Republican base.
As Republican political consultant Matt Mackowiak told the Chronicle’s Mike Ward: “If Trump wins, it helps him. If Trump loses by a small margin, it still helps him.”
But, as the recklessness of Trump’s candidacy becomes more evident, Bush’s stance is no longer acceptable.
As conservative New York Times Columnist David Brooks put it recently: “You either stand with a man whose very essence is an insult to basic decency, or you don’t.”
He added: “If you’re not in revolt, you’re in cahoots.”
One can’t expect the younger Bush to be as outspoken against Trump as his father. And Texas Republicans may never have the luxury of conscience afforded to politicians like Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who has come out against Trump. Consider what happened when U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz used the word “conscience” in his convention speech refusing to back Trump.
As a young reporter covering the Texas Legislature and various state and congressional races, one of the hardest concepts to master was the cynicism of it all. I knew that, to some degree, politics was a game, with rules and rivalries, and cold stats that guided decisions.
But as hard as I tried, I couldn’t seem to reduce in my mind important policy decisions — a child’s education, say, or a family’s health care options — to mere collateral damage of a political horse race.
Trump lacks ‘respect’
Politics affects people’s lives in very real ways. Trump poses a greater danger than we may have ever seen. If you listen to the 50 former national security folks, he weakens the U.S. moral authority around the world and he lacks basic knowledge of the U.S. Constitution.
Collins, of Maine, adds another grave concern: Trump’s unsuitability for office is based on his “disregard for the precept of treating others with respect.” It’s an idea, she says, “that should transcend politics.”
She described in a Washington Post op-ed the “unpleasant reality” that she has come to accept: “there will be no ‘new’ Donald Trump, just the same candidate who will slash and burn and trample anything and anyone he perceives as being in his way or an easy scapegoat.”
It’s not a comfortable place to be — in Trump’s way. But at this point, it’s the only option.