September 13, 2021

Even George W. Bush Gets It

Yes, even the guy who ordered the waterboarding (which is still a war crime) gets it:

As a nation, our adjustments have been profound. Many Americans struggled to understand why an enemy would hate us with such zeal. The security measures incorporated into our lives are both sources of comfort and reminders of our vulnerability. And we have seen growing evidence that the dangers to our country can come not only across borders, but from violence that gathers within. There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home. But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit. And it is our continuing duty to confront them.

He's talking about these guys:


Y'know. The followers of this guy:


But this isn't the first time the Water-boarder-in-Chief spoke out against the orange fascist.

October 17, 2017 at the "Spirit of Liberty: At Home, In The World" conference in NYC: 

We have seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty. At times, it can seem like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together. Argument turns too easily into animosity. Disagreement escalates into dehumanization. Too often, we judge other groups by their worst examples while judging ourselves by our best intentions – forgetting the image of God we should see in each other. 

We’ve seen nationalism distorted into nativism – forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America.   We see a fading confidence in the value of free markets and international trade – forgetting that conflict, instability, and poverty follow in the wake of protectionism.

Setting aside his own hand in our current cultural polarity, even the water-boarding war criminal saw Trump and Trump-ism for what it is: a danger to our society.