Trump v. Bush: It’s Genius

I have got to hand it to Donald Trump. His tactical instincts are genius. Nothing is more exquisite to my sense of humor than to watch how he can cause the lone standing Bush to go apoplectic at any chosen moment. Like a dog during a thunderstorm, Jeb goes nuts from not knowing what to do. However, the real genius of the self-proclaimed “genius” is not that he can so effortlessly transform Jeb into a living Elmer Fudd, but rather in how he uses Jeb to beat establishment Republicans.

The last exchange of Twitter bombs is perhaps the best example of tactics that are both incendiary and subtle at the same time. Ostensibly, Trump made an off the cuff remark of Jeb’s defense of his brother as being silly, let alone factually false. In response to Jeb repeating the false claim that W “kept us safe,” Trump simply pointed out that “W” was President when the worst attack on the U.S. since Pearl Harbor occurred. KA-BOOM! Jeb goes nuts with midnight Twitters, Fox News Cable jesters accuse Trump of parroting liberal B.S. (Fox cable has never been comfortable with facts), and the entire Republican establishment’s defense of the disaster that were the Bush years is exposed. The more they defend “W,” the more exposed they become.

He kept us safe??? Bush was such a disaster for the economy that the only marginal defense of his presidency has been the war on terror. “He kept us safe” is the diversion from a foreign policy that was every bit as disastrous as his economic record. For the millions of Americans who lost their retirement savings when Wall Street melted down, after he wasted a budget surplus, the foreign policy arguments are a weak diversion. For the thousands of American families who lost a loved one fighting a fraudulent war in Iraq, that is no diversion or consolation at all.

Republicans have been an unmitigated disaster for the economy, from its near collapse under Bush, to the more recent Congressional induced shut-downs, and the constant obstruction to stimulus programs. In fact, the greatest achievement of President Obama may be that he saved the economy and restored it despite the best attempts of Republicans to block him. No middle-class American with a pulse truly believes that the GOP will be good for them economically. Instead, the strength of the GOP has been assumed to be foreign policy, and they do their best to scare the bejesus out of us to justify their existence. That’s a false assumption that Trump is exposing. GOP conservative and neo-conservative doctrine has been every bit as disastrous as their economic doctrine.

The biggest danger we face as a nation now is a Middle East destabilized by conservative doctrine. Iran is our main nemesis, which prior to “W”’s intervention in Iraq was held in check. Now Iran is the power player, controlling much of Iraq, influencing  Syria, Lebanon and the West Bank, and making gains in the Arabian Peninsula. This was another point Trump made in the most recent exchange. I have to believe that this is by design by a candidate rightly dismissed for his lack of historical knowledge and contemporary facts, but whose tactical instincts dwarf the rest of the GOP field. Every time he lights a rhetorical firecracker, Jeb goes nuts and the establishment is exposed.