Long before Jeb! Bush announced what would prove to be a dazzlingly disastrous bid for the presidency, I believed that if we were forced to endure another President Bush in our lifetimes, it would not be him. No, such honors would go to the former Florida governor’s son, George P. Bush, the one whom his paw-paw, former President George H.W. Bush, once affectionately referred to as “one of the little brown ones.”
At age 40, George P. is young enough to survive what will likely be a hard-knock life for the GOP when it comes to national politics in the coming years (unless all the white racists it largely caters to suddenly and collectively go on to glory and/or damnation). After all, this is a political party that sees an increasingly diverse electorate and decided to nominate a loud-mouth demagogue for president.
However, if George P.’s recent comments about said demagogue, Donald Trump, are any indication of not only his political skill but also the strength of his spine, he’s less likely to become commander in chief and more inclined to net a more worthy title: sucker.
According to the Texas Tribune, George P., currently serving in the role of land commissioner in the state, called on Texas Republicans to support their party’s presidential nominee. In video remarks provided by an audience member, George P. is quoted as telling his fellow Texas Republicans, "From Team Bush, it's a bitter pill to swallow, but you know what? You get back up and you help the man that won, and you make sure that we stop Hillary Clinton.”
True enough, Bush was speaking in his capacity as the Texas GOP’s victory chairman. Nevertheless, if anyone can recall Jeb! Bush’s failed campaign, you instantly remember the repeated attacks he endured at the hands of Trump. Trump repeatedly described Jeb! as “low energy” throughout the primary contest. In addition, he berated Jeb! in myriad ways both on and off the debate stage, describing him as a "lightweight," a “spoiled child,” "stiff" and, with peak audaciousness and irony, "not a smart man.”
Not only did Trump verbally go upside the head of Jeb! one time after another, but Trump also went after George P.’s uncle, former President George W. Bush, blaming him for the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Granted, Trump lied his smoked-tangerine face off when he claimed that Muslims were cheering the fall of the World Trade Center from New Jersey, but he wasn’t completely off about how W. ignored intelligence that might have prevented those attacks. Still, this is George P.’s uncle.
So, keeping score, Trump has disparaged both his father and uncle, and yet somehow George P. still votes for him because of party allegiance. Mind you, Trump has yet to show any real allegiance to the Republican Party. Then you factor in the other fun tidbit about George P. Bush: His mother is Mexican.
Trump has described Mexicans and other Latino immigrants as “rapists,” “criminals” and “killers.” Trump has also retweeted other like-minded bigots who attacked Jeb!’s wife and his own damn mama. Not once, but twice.
Last fall, Jeb! gave an interview to Telemundo and discussed—in Spanish—some of the taunting his children suffered because of their complexion and accent.
"I remember there was a time when my son went to Ocala to play baseball, a game on a team,” he explained. “And the team was a Miami team; the majority were Hispanics. My son George, he’s dark-skinned. And they spoke horrible things about those from Miami. And naturally I had to explain or describe that people who hate were not the majority, but that we have to forge ahead. Because I was quite upset.”
Now, I find Jeb! to be as likable as a student loan default, with political ideology as helpful as a payday loan, but if there is one thing to appreciate about him, it’s that he refuses to vote for Trump. In fact, he’s noted that his supporters will “feel betrayed” by a President Trump, since it’s unlikely that he’ll be able to deliver on his “big, beautiful wall” paid for by Mexico and on the banning of all Muslims from entering the United States. Jeb! is not the only Bush-family member to fail to endorse Trump; George H.W. and George W. have cha-cha-slided right pass that, too.
Of course, their political careers are over and George P.’s has only just begun. Even so, despite Democratic vice presidential nominee Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine’s pledge that the Clinton-Kaine ticket will make a play for Texas, it’s highly unlikely that Hillary Clinton will win Beyoncé’s and my home state. So was it really worth the humiliation of publicly asking on fellow Republicans to support the man who has done nothing but trash your family and your fellow Latinos?
No. No. No. Hell no. If I were George P., whenever asked about Trump, I would tell reporters to check out that YG record on the subject and move on.
All it does is highlight that George P., much like Paul Ryan, John McCain and other Republicans who have further debased themselves by pledging support to someone who has debased them publicly, cares more about power than principle. Actually, they care more about power than they do their own dignity. If this is what George P. is already doing in his young political career, he may never even rise to the level of his father.
To quote the man who trashes his mama, daddy, uncle and his community, George P. is a “loser.”
Michael Arceneaux hails from Houston, lives in Harlem and praises Beyoncé’s name wherever he goes. Follow him on Twitter.