Donald Trump, the leading candidate for the Republican nomination for president, claims in Saturday night’s debate that the most recent Republican president, George W. Bush, knowingly and purposefully lied us into war in Iraq.
President Bush’s brother, Jeb Bush, briefly defends his brother the president but quickly turns his defense into a complaint that he’s tired of Donald Trump criticizing his mother and his family. Jeb is apparently too wounded to be outraged.
George W. Bush shows up to campaign for his brother two days later in South Carolina and chooses not to directly address the charge. George W. Bush is apparently too post-presidential to be outraged.
Dick Cheney is asked about Trump’s comment on Fox, and explains the Bush administration had the same intelligence as others around the world. Asked if he could support Trump were Trump to win the nomination, Cheney reiterates that he’s always said he would support the Republican nominee. Cheney is apparently too loyal a Republican to be outraged.
If George W. Bush and Dick Cheney—and Colin Powell and Condi Rice and all the others accused by Donald Trump of lying us into war—aren’t going to be outraged, others aren’t going to be outraged on their behalf. So John Kasich decides it would hurt his image as a positive unifier if he were to be outraged. So Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, who had moments of authentic outrage Saturday night, go back to sniping at each other rather than sustaining their outrage.
Once upon a time we had leaders who would have expressed their outrage at such a slander. They would have demanded evidence from Trump to back up his charge. Receiving none, they would have denounced and excoriated him. They would have explained to the American people how extraordinarily irresponsible his slander was, and would have done their best to discredit a man who could behave so irresponsibly. They would have pronounced him unfit to be president of the United States, and they would have mobilized their friends, supporters and admirers to ensure so appalling an eventuality didn’t come to pass. They would have been scorned by some for doing so, and they would have worn that scorn as a badge of honor.
We apparently no longer live in such a time.
