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Arrogance, recklessness and scorn for ideas — no, not Trump. George W. Bush

By David Greenberg June 30 at 11:01 AM

David Greenberg is a professor of history at Rutgers University and the author of “Republic of Spin.”

David Greenberg, a professor of history and of journalism and media studies at Rutgers University, is the author of “Republic of Spin: An Inside History of the American Presidency.”

The fireball candidacy of Donald Trump has created shock waves of nostalgia for an ostensibly moderate, reasonable Republican Party of yore. Trump’s vulgarity, anti-intellectualism, mendacity, mean-spiritedness and brawling, bullying style have been deemed unprecedented and unparalleled.
But anyone prone to romanticize the old GOP should take a bracing shot of “Bush,” a hefty biography of our 43rd president by the prolific and acclaimed biographer Jean Edward Smith. Written in sober, smooth, snark-free prose, with an air of thoughtful, detached authority, the book is nonetheless exceedingly damning in its judgments about George W. Bush’s years in office. It reminds us anew of Bush’s own arrogance, recklessness, scorn for ideas and strong-arm politics — and of the apoplexy he provoked from liberals and Democrats who felt powerless to rein him in. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/arrogance-recklessness-and-scorn-for-ideas--no-not-trump-george-w-bush/2016/06/29/7b6e5960-33fa-11e6-8ff7-7b6c1998b7a0_story.html?postshare=7171467320599835&tid=ss_mail