Enough has been written and spoken about Ted Cruz sucking up to Trump despite all the unhinged family-slandering Trump engaged in against the Cruzes. Maybe it's a Texas thing, but The Bulwark's Jonathan Last just did a story about George P Bush-- a Uriah Heep kind of guy-- doing the same thing as Cruz. And he called his little essay The Worst Bush.
George P is an embarrassing slime, even for a Republican. Last reminded his readers that Señor Trumpanzee has accused George P.’s uncle-- George W. Bush-- of "committing a little light treason. Also, Trump not only attacked George P.’s father [Jeb] in ad hominem and personal ways during the course of the 2016-- but took shots at his mother, too. And here’s George P. anyway, with his gimp mask on, doing what he’s got to do because he’s a member of the reality-based community. And if you want a future in Republican politics, you have to be pro-Trump. Even if it means being anti-your-family."
Thing is... look at the guy George P. is running against. I mean it would be hard to find someone more vomit-worthy than George P. But Texas Republicans have: Ken Paxton, "a two-term attorney general so corrupt that as the sitting state AG he was arrested and booked on charges of securities fraud. In the waning days of the Trump administration, Paxton launched the ludicrous lawsuit attempting to disenfranchise the 81 million people who voted for Joe Biden. [Editor’s note: 81 million > 74 million.] And that lawsuit wasn’t just about stroking his base-- Paxton was clearly hoping Trump would give him a pardon. There’s a real chance this guy could win reelection and then wind up in jail before the end of his next term."
So, asked Last, "who should we be rooting for?" He noted that "in a perfect world they’d both lose. But this isn’t a perfect world. It’s Texas. One of these guys is going to be elected AG."
Ken Paxton is a familiar type in American politics: the venal, stupid, corrupt demagogue. We’ve had them for the last 200 years. We’ll have them for the next 200 years. If Paxton were to hop onboard a Falcon Heavy rocket aimed at the sun, there would be five more just like him.
So it’s hard for me to get too worked up about the guy.
George P. Bush, on the other hand, is special. He’s dynastic legacy case who’s so ambitious that he’s selling out his own family. And not even selling them out for a good cause-- he’s doing it to suck up to an aspiring authoritarian strongman.
I don’t think we have a precedent for this in American politics.
Look, say what you will about how far the Kennedy clan has fallen. But imagine Robert F. Kennedy Jr. crapping all over Bobby, Ethel, and Jack in the hopes that Hugo Chavez would tweet something nice about his anti-vaxx crusade.
Because that’s pretty close to George P. is doing right now.
Except that what George P. Bush is doing is worse and more dishonorable.
Honestly, I think I’m #TeamPaxton for this fight. If Paxton wins, sure, it’ll be bad for America. Same as if Bush wins.
But if George P. Bush loses then it will be an object lesson for a generation of Americans that selling out your family for political gain brings nothing but defeat and disgrace.