A.G. Gancarski
On Monday, in Hanahan, South Carolina, Donald Trump savaged the legacy of George W. Bush, on 9/11 and the Iraq War, ahead of Bush 43 surfacing to campaign for Jeb.
Trump previewed that line of attack earlier Monday in Mt. Pleasant, posing a rhetorical question about W’s reticence since January 2009. “Ever asked yourself why his brother went silent all these years?”
Trump than answered that question, after some prodding.
“If the ex-President campaigns for his brother,” Trump said, he is “opening himself up for greater scrutiny.”
“It would be better for him if he stayed out.”
Based on Trump’s comments, a look at why the World Trade Center fell during W’s term would be an appropriate realm for further inquiry, during what Trump described as “the greatest attack in the history of the United States.”
“What does that mean … he ‘kept us safe after 9/11’?” Trump said about that constant GOP talking point. “What about during?”
For Trump, that argument is like the other “team scoring 19 runs in the first inning,” then saying that our team “played well.”
Part of the issue Trump has with W is the lead-up to 9/11, characterized by factionalism within the Bush administration, with the “CIA and other agencies … not talking to each other, not getting along … and we ended up with the [fall of the] World Trade Center.”
Beyond the “tremendous problems” the agencies had “getting along with each other,” Trump also turned his sights on the Iraq War.
“Saddam Hussein was a bad guy, but one thing about him, he killed terrorists,” Trump said.
Trump tacitly linked George W. Bush and Barack Obama as having failed in Iraq, saying that “Obama was no better” than W, given “the way he got us out.”
Expect George W. Bush to be forced to respond to such critiques, very rarely levied by Republicans, on Monday evening. The question now: Does Bush 43 still have his fastball?
