A few years back I had the good fortune to sit on the reviewing stand at a Texas A&M football game. It was Thanksgiving Day and the opponent was the University of Texas Longhorns. I was on the reviewing stand with good friend Jack Thigpen, one of the nicest, most genuine people I’ve ever had the good fortune to know. If Jack has ever said a disparaging word about anyone, I’ve never heard it.
We were seated in that special area because our host was a major donor to Texas A&M. Another personable and genuine person on that same reviewing stand that day as the cadets marched into the stadium was George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st President of the United States.
I had Jack photograph me shaking hands with President Bush—several times. I kept coming back and the last time, he recognized me, laughed and said, “How many times are you going to do this?”
“As many times as you’ll let me,” I replied. He laughed again—and posed for the photo.
When I heard on Saturday morning that Bush had passed away, I couldn’t help but reflect back and marvel at the contrast between the political landscape of his time and today.
The comparison isn’t pleasant.
One can set down on just about any day of the Trump presidency and find plenty at which to be both appalled and disgusted.
There is his appointment of WILBUR ROSS as Secretary of Commerce. Ross, you may or may not know, was head of the Bank of Cyprus before joining the Trump disassembly of democracy. The primary function of the Bank of Cyprus, of course, was to LAUNDER DIRTY MONEY for the Russian Mafia.
There’s Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, about whom you can by clicking HERE.
And a guy named STEVEN HOFFENBERG, a $475 million Ponzi scheme operator who the late Ruston weekly newspaper publisher John Hays exposed several years ago. It would stand as the largest Ponzi scheme ever until Bernie Madoff came along. The resulting investigation by Hays resulted in a federal prison sentence for Hoffenberg, who surfaced a quarter-century later as a major fundraiser for Herr Trump.
But that wasn’t the end of the Hoffenberg SAGA. It seems he was a running buddy of Wall Street prodigy Jeffrey Epstein who worked for six years for Bear Stearns before launching his own financial investing firm in 1982.
Prosecutors tried to offer Hoffenberg a deal if he would give them information about Epstein and his part in the scam but he refused only to later file a $1 billion lawsuit accusing Epstein of running the scam through Hoffenberg’s company, Towers Financial Corp.
So, what’s the big deal about Epstein? There are lots of scammers on Wall Street. Madoff himself called Wall Street the biggest Ponzi scheme of them all—and he may have been correct.
And how does Epstein tie into the Trump administration?
Well, before I go any further, all this story circles back to a member of Trump’s cabinet and if you can, in any manner, rationalize anything Trump or his subordinates do, don’t read any further.
If you have a propensity to overlook Trump’s transgressions with a shrug and the (very) lame “well he’s doing what he said he’d do,” don’t read any further.
If you call yourself a Christian but are willing to look the other way while Trump appoints, crooks, thieves, scam artists, money launderers, and enablers of sexual perversion, don’t read any further.
And most of all, if you have high blood pressure and are easily angered when people play you for a fool, don’t read any further.
But if you have a conscience, please read what comes next.
If you are a Trump devotee (and even if you’re not), you’ve most likely heard the preposterous claim that Hillary Clinton was part of a pedophilia ring run out of the basement of a Washington, D.C. pizza parlor. Commonly known as Pizzagate among the wild-eyed zealots of the Alex Jones ilk, the absurd rumor was proven to be just that—a groundless rumor.
But there was a child sex ring before the Pizzagate story lit up the Internet.
It was back in 2005 and would include a lot of bigly—very bigly—names. Names like Epstein, Bill (not Hillary) Clinton, Prince Andrew, Kevin Spacey, Chris Tucker and….Donald Trump.
Epstein would be charged with sex trafficking. Many of his victims, most likely in the hundreds, were juveniles, some as young as 13. Virginia Giuffre, formerly Roberts, said in a lawsuit filed against Epstein that she was 15 and working at MAR-a-LAGO when she was recruited by Epstein’s girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.
One story had both Epstein and Trump engaging in sex with a girl they knew to be only 13.
The Miami Herald, in a SICKENING STORY published last Wednesday, said a 53-page indictment could have sent Epstein to federal prison for the remainder of his life.
Until, that is, U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta stepped in and negotiated what has been called the “deal of a lifetime” for Epstein. A non-prosecution agreement was reached whereby the ongoing FBI investigation into whether there were more victims would be terminated. He would serve 13 months—13 months—in the county jail (where he would be housed in a special wing and allowed to work part-time in his office). And contrary to federal law requiring that victims of his crimes be notified of the agreement, the deal was sealed and kept from them.
And Acosta?
Well, he’s now Trump’s SECRETARY OF LABOR and until recently, was on the short list to replace Jeff Sessions as attorney general.
And if you think I’m being overly hard on Acosta and by association, Trump, if you think that I like to cite the so-called “fake news” in making my points, you may wish to check out this story by…. FOX NEWS.
Such are the daily stories coming out of the Trump White House. There’s seldom a day that something sleazy doesn’t ooze from under the Oval Office door. The man is simply unable to display even an inkling of class and he has surrounded himself with those who are but mirrors of his own shortcomings.
And then there was GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH who was the very personification of class.
The LETTER he left for the man who defeated him for reelection in 1992, Bill Clinton, reveals the type person he was.
Volunteering for the military just before Pearl Harbor, he was shot down over Chichi Jima in the Pacific in 1944. He is the last combat veteran to hold the office of President. Trump, on the other hand claimed a stone bruise on his heel as a way to avoid the draft but when later pressed as to which heel, he couldn’t remember.
Bush and wife BARBARA were married an incredible 73 years. She died in April, he seven months later.
Writer Matthew Walther, writing for THE WEEK, said Bush was not a “movement” conservative, a trait that is lost on state politicians like Cameron Henry, Taylor Barras and Conrad (buy stock, then vote for state contract with that company) Appel. Bush’s willingness go back on his “read my lips” pledge and raise taxes “for the good of the country” likely cost him the election to Clinton. Walther pointed out that Bush had “little patience for the antics of Second Amendment absolutists and other loud-mouthed enthusiastic types in the conservative caucus.
“He spoke the old-fashioned language of solidarity with ease, though he had little patience for the empty self-aggrandizement that is expected of modern politicians.”
And he didn’t mind crossing the aisle and working with Democrats when the country stood to benefit from it. Gen. COLIN POWELL said Bush believed that politics shouldn’t be nasty.
My God, Trump, are you listening? (No, of course not.)
“Bush was the last important politician to embody all the old WASP virtues—decency, stoicism, self-denial, gentle wit, skepticism, and courtesy,” Walther said.
And would Trump skydive on his 80th and 90th birthdays?
Louisiana Voice 
Well, you were definitely a Republican in those days. GHWBush, in my opinion, was not a great president. Although, no president has been great. I will say he did have more “class” than Trump has ever had and will ever have. My goodness, anybody walking the earth has more class than Trump. Yes, we are sorry he died and pray for his family at this time. But, as a lifelong Democrat, we know that GHWBush was just not the greatest. History tells us this. Memory tells us this. The good ole days weren’t really that great regarding his presidency, and if you care to hear the other side’s view you may agree. Or learn something.
But may he rest in peace.
My point was not to make him a great president. After all, he did get us into the Mideast war that his son extended. My comparison was between Bush and Trump not as presidents but as men of character, compassion, and judgment. Trump fails on all three measures. But you’re right about one thing: I was a Republican in those days. A guy named Jindal changed all that and a guy named Trump solidified it.
IRAN CONTRA AFFAIR (Wikipedia)
Fourteen administration officials were indicted, including then-Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. Eleven convictions resulted, some of which were vacated on appeal.The rest of those indicted or convicted were all pardoned in the final days of the presidency of George H. W. Bush, who had been Vice President at the time of the affair. The Iran–Contra affair and the ensuing deception to protect senior administration officials (including President Reagan) has been cast as an example of post-truth politics
George H. W. Bush denial
During his election campaign in 1988, Vice President Bush denied any knowledge of the Iran–Contra affair by saying he was “out of the loop”. Though his diaries included that he was “one of the few people that know fully the details”, he repeatedly refused to discuss the incident and won the election.
A book published in 2008 by Israeli journalist and terrorism expert Ronen Bergman asserts that Bush was also personally and secretly briefed on the affair by Amiram Nir, a counterterrorism adviser to the then Israeli Prime Minister, when Bush was on a visit to Israel. “Nir could have incriminated the incoming President. The fact that Nir was killed in a mysterious chartered airplane crash in Mexico in December 1988 has given rise to numerous conspiracy theories”, writes Bergman.
Pardons
On 24 December 1992, nearing the end of his term in office after being defeated by Bill Clinton the previous month, George H. W. Bush pardoned[112] five administration officials that had been found guilty on charges relating to the affair. They were:
1. Elliott Abrams;
2. Duane Clarridge;
3. Alan Fiers;
4. Clair George; and
5. Robert McFarlane.
Bush also pardoned Caspar Weinberger, who had not yet come to trial.
During Bush’s year in charge of the CIA, the U.S. national security apparatus actively supported Operation Condor operations and right-wing military dictatorships in Latin America.
Operation Condor was a United States–backed campaign of political repression and state terror involving intelligence operations and assassination of opponents, officially implemented in 1975 by the right-wing dictatorships of the Southern Cone of South America. The program, nominally intended to eradicate communist or Soviet influence and ideas, was created to suppress active or potential opposition movements against the participating governments’ neoliberal economic policies, which sought to reverse the economic policies of the previous era.
Due to its clandestine nature, the precise number of deaths directly attributable to Operation Condor is highly disputed. Some estimates are that at least 60,000 deaths can be attributed to Condor, and possibly more Victims included dissidents and leftists, union and peasant leaders, priests and nuns, students and teachers, intellectuals and suspected guerillas Condor’s key members were the governments in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil. Ecuador and Peru later joined the operation in more peripheral roles.
Based on this wholly accurate and precise rendering of President Trump, I will heretofore burn my MAGA hat, rip the KAG 2020 bumper sticker from my vehicle, and spit three times while I stomp my feet in a semi circle ( that should rattle him! ). Then I will jump on social media and demand a recall, forcing Congress to recount Hillary’s votes for the 2016 election. I might even travel to one of her and Bill’s lectures where I will fight my way through the “crowds” and beg her to come to the rostrum to represent the fallen Democratic party… No, never mind, I’d rsther not be sold out by the media and a few tired old hacks pretending to be “unbiased” journalists…like Dan Rather and the purveyor of this tired web portal.
Jesus what a pointless rambling poor attempt at … something. Aswell makes great points as usual, which of course you can’t refute.
Yet here you are, apparently having read the piece and even commenting on it. Why? Why are you here?
Outlaw, let’s just say (hypothetically, of course) that one of those girls victimized by Epstein had been your daughter. Would a 13 month jail sentence, with time off to work in his office, have been acceptable to you? And let’s take it a step further and say (hypothetically, of course) that Acosta, who engineered that attractive plea bargain for Epstein, was subsequently appointed to a cabinet post by, say…Barrack Obama. What would have been your (hypothetical) reaction? Hmmm?
I don’t see how any thinking American can not look at Bush 41 and then look at Trump and understand all that has been lost. The most telling symptom, in my mind, of the total destruction of this Republican Party is the complete refusal of this sitting U. S. Senate to act in any way to preserve our Constitutionally written checks and balances on the Executive Branch. Hence, we have a destructive, incompetent President enabled by a group of people claiming to be Senators. Out history from this point will not be good…I appreciate and understand what you have written about the corruption in Trump’s administration. However, you only tipped this iceberg. I cannot locate a single person that he has appointed that does not lie with ease and/or benefit personally and/or make decisions that are aimed at destroying our government from within. If you discover an honest, qualified appointee, please publish that info.
Thanks for another great article, Tom. I, too, think that Bush 41 was a good President who stood head and shoulders above the current White House occupant.
BTW, congrats on all those photo ops!!
This child sex ring story CAN’T be true! Can it?
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Well, the Trumpster Kool-Aid drinkers would like to think that only the Clintons could be into that, but the story as it pertains to Epstein (friend of Bill, Trump, and others) and Secretary of Labor Acosta is absolutely true. You need to click on the ALL-CAPS green-highlighted words and phrases in the post that are links which bring up the applicable stories that give the sordid details.
This story about Epstein and Trump was public during the campaign along with a documentary film and numerous in depth articles relating Trump’s real estate scams, questionable bank loans, involvment with high level Russians, etc. I know because I saw them. Of course, they weren’t highly circulated by mainstream media at the time. That they failed the American public by failing to do their real job, providing factual, important information, is the reason we have this morally corrupt and inept administration today. With few exceptions, they continue to concentrate on “entertainment” and sensationalism and giving trump the attention he craves for his stupid stupid behavior, that masks the real news, e.g., the despicable laws being passed, the ramming through of federal judges, many of whom aren’t truly qualified or have either not been properly vetted or have failed the vetting process for valid reasons.
Well, mjjmlaf, I tried. I had stories on those very points on June 21, 2016 and again on July 6, 2016 (see the links in the above post). Of course, my readership is limited to a few thousand, not the millions who should have read the stories—not that it would have changed the minds of his devotees who only respond to the red meat screams of “lock her up” and “build the wall.”
But I certainly appreciate the fact that at least you were aware of the stories. It’s good to have educated readers—unlike those who have attacked this post on Facebook because of some blind loyalty to a man who wouldn’t spit on them if they were on fire.
Tom, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this while at the same time, I am scared witless of the mindless devotion that some have for Trump. It amazes me that anyone would call him a “successful” business man when for the most part his empire was given to him and built out on the backs of the small vendors and contractors that his corporation stiffed time and again building his castles.
As always sir, I enjoy your take on the world and it does give me pause many a time to reflect on the things happening around me!