George P. Bush is the last representative of the Bush dynasty on the political scene. Jeb Bush’s son is the Texas land commissioner. The state is the family stronghold.
The reason I mention the heir to the famous family is because he is campaigning to be the Republican candidate for attorney general of his state. Good for him, you might say! The reason I am pushing this is because the current attorney general, Ken Paxton, is a strong supporter of … Donald Trump.
In an interview with Politico, Republican strategist Jeff Roe described the confrontation between the two men as nothing less than a “holy war.” One-upmanship? Let us go one step further and say that Texas hasn’t seen anything like this since the siege of the Alamo in 1836!
Since arriving on the political scene, Trump has not hesitated to discredit the Bush clan, but his first attacks against the family have much more distant roots. As early as 2013, he said that the United States needed another President Bush as much as it needed a third Barack Obama term!
The animosity is so great that even Barbara Bush has engaged in a war of words, claiming that Trump’s comments make her sick. George H.W. Bush, Jeb and George W. Bush all had harsh words for candidate and President Trump.
Discreet since leaving the White House, George W. Bush did not hesitate to condemn Trumpism, stating in passing that the country had lost its identity: “In all these ways, we need to recall and recover our own identity.”
In a sign of the times and the lingering influence of the 45th president, candidate George P. Bush was very measured in his remarks and rallied behind Trump during the 2020 election. The family connection and repeated attacks on his uncle and father did not make him lose sight of the realities on the ground.
Trump has noticed the reserve of George P., whom he calls “my Bush.” For the time being, the godfather of Mar-a-Lago refuses to officially announce who his loyalties will lie with, but it is easy to see that he is amused by the situation. After all, he could well decide the short-term future of the “last of the Bushes,” who is also said to have presidential ambitions.
The current attorney general and rival of George P. Bush is in a precarious position and desperately needs Trump’s support. His approval ratings are down, and since 2015 he has been unable to shake off charges and allegations of fraud, corruption and abuse of power.
Like many embattled Republicans, Paxton has maintained Trump’s big lie about the November 2020 results, and his comments about the assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6 are controversial. More than George P. Bush, he has embraced Trump and misses no opportunity to very openly denigrate Joe Biden’s presidency. An endorsement from Trump in the media may be his only saving grace.
As I mentioned a short while ago, there will still be a lot of talk about Trump until the 2022 midterm elections. If the Republicans manage to regain control of the House of Representatives, the 45th president’s shadow will hang over the country until 2024.
Trumpism did not die with the election of Biden. The fact that Jeb Bush’s son is joining it to increase his chances of victory is indicative of the importance of the movement.
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