George W. Bush campaigns for Jeb Bush, doesn’t mention Donald Trump once

(Associated Press)

Monday saw George W. Bush emerge in Charleston, South Carolina, to help prop up his brother’s flagging Presidential campaign.

Trump, who has broken the tacit agreement among Republicans to hew to the “Bush kept us safe after 9/11” line, seemed to be betting that W’s counterarguments would fare no better than those of Jeb Bush, the one-time frontrunner whose campaign is on life support in terms of poll positioning.

W, however, didn’t mention Trump once in his remarks. Allusions abounded, however.

George W, Bush, who has a 77 percent approval rating in one SC poll of Republicans, was intended to jumpstart Jeb’s campaign, polling at 6 percent in the Palmetto State. But the questions going in: can W still deliver? And even if he can, is this too late to help his brother out?

W came out giving folksy props to South Carolina politicians in the crowd, including Lindsey Graham and Mark Sanford, and for a moment, it felt like the years had rolled back, as Bush talked about his “fond memories” of the state, including walking in the Okra Strut in Irmo.

“Since I left the White House, I’ve been kind of quiet in the public square,” Bush said after his preamble, using jokes like “I’ve been misunderestimated most of my life.”

The crowd was rollicking, and then Bush moved toward the meat of the speech, citing that he cares “deeply about Jeb” and “deeply about our country.”

Bush rattled off Jeb’s virtues, such as “executive experience,” being able to handle “intense pressure,” and so on.

Bush also talked about 9/11, and how no one knew the world would change that day, saying that his job became “crystal clear.”

“I became something that no President wants to be: a wartime President,” Bush 43 said.

Pivoting back to the sell for Jeb, W said “our enemies and allies know that when Jeb Bush speaks, he’ll follow through on his words.”

“We need someone who can take a positive message across the entire country, someone who can inspire,” Bush 43 said.

“I understand that Americans are angry and frustrated, but we do not need someone in the Oval Office who mirrors our anger and frustration,” Bush said, in an obvious allusion to Trump.

“Strength is not empty rhetoric, it is not bluster,” Bush said, adding that Jeb has a “quiet conviction and a core of confidence that can not be shaken.”

Jeb, in his remarks, reiterated his contention that his brother “kept us safe,” adding that “I never thought that in a Republican debate we’d be talking about impeaching a two-term President.”

“Some of the dialogue back and forth made me wonder… I thought it was Michael Moore on the stage.”