context: https://lemmy.world/comment/19435041 PattyMcB@lemmy.world

It’s sad that I want W [George. W. Bush.] back. It would still be a massive upgrade, though [compared to Trump]

stoy replies:

When I see old GWB footage I see a US president, trying to do what he believes is best for the nation, I disagree with him on plenty of stuff, but I don’t question his commitment.

Bronzebeard replies:

Can we not whitewash the atrocities that WBush put on this nation? Is Trump worse? yes. But Bush paved the way for the shit that he’s doing.

He lied is into multiple 2-decades long wars that cost us trillions of dollars could have helped everyone in the US have a better life, 10s of thousands of lives lost. He vastly expanded the domestic surveillance apparatus that is plaguing us now. He ushered in the worst economic collapse in a century, them used that crisis to funnel more money to the rich who caused it.

to which stoy replies:

Oh, I absolutely agree with you, GWB was not a good man, but he knew how to act presidential, you didn’t have to be completely embarrassed when you saw him on TV.

  • Zuzak [fae/faer, she/her]@hexbear.net
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    17 days ago

    OK but that makes him worse. The fact that Trump is “embarrassing” and divisive makes him fundamentally less dangerous, because he doesn’t have the whole country unified behind him. Bush did all kinds of evil shit but he was “presidential” enough to at one point have like a 90% approval rating, while being just as much of an evil piece of shit. Bush genuflected to the rhetoric of “we don’t hate Muslims” while murdering them en masse and everyone fucking clapped because he did so “politely.” I guess that’s what libs are after, ultimately, all the same policies and objectives, just with respect for the Rule of Law and without “rude” or “embarrassing” rhetoric.

    My hatred of Bush will keep burning hot and pure until the day my heart stops beating. Never will anything change that.

    • LeninWeave [none/use name, any]@hexbear.net
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      17 days ago

      Bush did all kinds of evil shit but he was “presidential” enough to at one point have like a 90% approval rating, while being just as much of an evil piece of shit.

      To be fair, he was a fool who constantly humiliated himself on national and international television. That approval rating was because the American people are (and were especially at the time) genocidal, so they were able to pretend that he was competent for a short while in order to kill as many Arabs as possible. You can see it happen occasionally with Trump, especially coming from liberal media commentators and especially in his first term. “This is the day he finally became president.”

      Bush was the fucking devil, and the fact that so many liberal Americans whitewash him today only reinforces that they are genocidal. That’s what they want. That’s what’s Presidential. The destruction of the lives of people in the third world. What I’m saying is that Trump could probably have come close to that approval rating in his first term with the right circumstance. Given another 9/11, he could easily do so now.

    • CommunistCuddlefish [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      17 days ago

      My hatred of Bush will keep burning hot and pure until the day my heart stops beating. Never will anything change that.

      Same heart-sickle and I hold in contempt anyone who defends him