‘That was some weird sh**.” So spoke former president George W. Bush after what we can now call the first inauguration of Donald Trump in 2017. This past Wednesday, Bush was singing a different tune. “I congratulate President Trump on his election as the 47th President of the United States of America,” he said. It was a simple statement that conveyed much more than mere congratulations. It signaled the end of the Bush era in politics, a fact with which both Right and Left must reckon.
It may seem ridiculous to say that we were still in the Bush era at all. His presidency ended in 2009, amid financial chaos for the country and political catastrophe for Republicans. But presidencies can have long shadows and afterlives. Electoral eras are not always discrete and disjunct. Figures who secured power and influence in one period linger into the next, as do their accomplishments — and their failures.
Comments