I am sick to death of the reinvention of George W. Bush.
When I was a teenager, I hated George W. Bush with my entire heart. Starting with the mock election in 8th grade where Al Gore won and Bush lost, and I was full to the brim with confidence that the same thing would happen in the national election, I have hated that man. One of the most egregious acts of misbehavior in my youth was my insistence on stealing Bush lawn signs, something I didn't realize was "illegal," but I would have likely done anyway. To me, Bush was the epitome of everything wrong with this country. He was a white, Christian male, and I just knew he'd hate me, my family, and everything I cared about. Which at the time was a boy wizard, the movie theater I worked at, my siblings, and my best friends,
I was moved after the 9/11 attacks. I felt patriotic for a few months, full of pride that the country seemed to all agree that something terrible happened. People died, and we all cared about that. I never faltered on Bush, or, say, Rudy Giuliani, but I did briefly feel Proud to Be An American in a way that I imagine people who say that unironically actually feel.
And then I started to fucking hate my country again. I was angry and angsty as a teenager, but instead of taking it out on my parent(s), I took it out on Bush and the Republican party. When that man declared war on Iraq in March 2003, I remember crying when someone called into the radio show (Delialiah) because he was getting ready to go fight for our country. At that point, I was crying because it felt stupid, and useless, and scarily cyclical for us to be entering a war with Iraq, or anyone. I was crying not because of pride in my country and its soldiers, but out of frustration, confusion, anger, and fear.
Donald Trump has been our president on and off for the past 10 years, which is a horrific statement that doesn't even seem or feel true, but certainly is. Because Trump, an unqualified, evil, hideous monster, makes Bush look like a peaceful, kind, old artist, I have been forced to see people embrace 43 in a way that makes me sick to my stomach.
