Both Bush Presidents Lash Out At Trump, GHW Confirms He Voted For Hillary

The fading Republican establishment remains unable to reconcile its ongoing collapse, and continues to scapegoat Donald Trump for all the GOP"s troubles instead of looking in the mirror.

Two weeks after an outraged George W. Bush lashed out at Trump, accusing him of emboldening "bigotry and white supremacy", on Saturday we learn just how deep the animosity toward Trump runs within the extended Bush household. In a new book to be released this month from historian Mark Updegrove, titled "The Last Republicans", and previewed on Saturday by the NYT and CNN, former President George H.W. Bush said he considers Trump a “blowhard,” only interested in feeding his own "ego." Meanwhile, his son, former President George W. Bush, thinks Trump fans public anger and came to office without any understanding of the job.

When asked about Donald Trump in May 2016, GHW Bush said: "I don"t like him ... I don"t know much about him, but I know he"s a blowhard. And I"m not too excited about him being a leader."

His son was just as vocal: “Wow, this guy doesn"t know what it means to be president,” the junior Bush said, indicating that a president should not “exploit the anger, incite it” but rather “come up with ideas to deal with it.”

Which, of course, is easy for the Bushes to say: after all they - together with the Clinton and Obama administrations - spent over two decades laying the groundwork and building up the "anger" which resulted from the greatest social and political polarization and wealth inequality the US has ever seen. Perhaps the reality - as the election one year ago showed - is that the status quo simply no longer works. Perhaps... the Republican party is broken precisely due to the work of the two Bush presidents.

In any case, both former Bush presidents are worried that Mr. Trump has blown up a Republican Party that they spent two lifetimes building; Dubya also told Updegrove: "I"m worried that I will be the last Republican president."

Ironically, author Updegrove told the NYT that "at the time, I think he was concerned that Hillary Clinton would win ... But if you look at his values and those shared by his father and Ronald Reagan, they are very much in contrast to the values of the Republican Party today, in particular the platform that Donald Trump ran on."

So what happened? Well, as CNN adds, "George H.W. Bush confirmed that he voted for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton." His son meanwhile voted for nobody:

"George W. Bush told Updegrove he left the top of the ballot blank. "I voted "None of the Above" for president, and Republican down ballot in 2016.""

In retrospect, Dubya may be correct: as Axios" Mike Allen writes, George W. Bush is probably right that he was "the last Republican president," as his family sees the party.

The "Republican Party" is now multiple ideological parties, awkwardly — and probably not sustainably — scrunched under one inadequate label.

Which, considering the previous "label" no longer meant anything to most Americans - except such figures as the Bushes, of course- is probably not a bad thing.

Trump Sends Second Aircraft Carrier To Korean Peninsula With 7,500 Marines Aboard

Just one week after uttering his now-infamous "this is the calm before the storm" statement to the press ahead of a dinner with military leaders, we now learn that President Trump has dispatched a second nuclear aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, filled with 7,500 marines, to the Korean Peninsula.  Of course, this comes after rumors swirled earlier this week that North Korea is preparing to fire multiple short-range rockets around the opening of the Chinese Communist Party’s twice-a-decade congress on Oct. 18th.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, is en route to the western Pacific after leaving San Diego port last week.

The Roosevelt will focus on maritime security operations in the Pacific and Middle East, the US military announced.

But the £3.4billion ($4.5billion) warship, known as “the Big Stick”, has been sent to boost US defence on the Korean peninsula, according to South Korean media.

It is expected to arrive in region in the coming weeks amid fears North Korea is about to test another missile or nuclear weapon.

Per the following map from Stratfor, the USS Theodore Roosevelt will join the USS Ronald Reagan which is already operating in the region.

According to a statement from Admiral Steve Koehler, a strike group commander on the ship, the Roosevelt is carrying some 7,500 sailors and marines that are “ready as a war fighting force”.

“The US Navy carrier strike group is the most versatile, capable force at sea,” he said in a statement before the ship’s launch.

“After nearly a year of training and integration exercises, the entire team is ready as a warfighting force and ready to carry out the nation’s tasking.”

Of course, as we noted above, this buildup of naval forces in the Pacific follows an ominous warning from the President last week that preceded a dinner with military leaders: "You guys know what this represents? Maybe it"s the calm before the storm," he said: "It could be the calm... before... the storm."

A reporter quickly asked what the storm might be -"Is it Iran, ISIS, what"s the storm?"  to which he replied... "...you"ll find out."

TRUMP: "Maybe it"s the calm before the storm."
...
REPORTER: "What storm Mr. President?"
TRUMP: "You"ll find out." (via Satellite News) pic.twitter.com/bWMzGrDPNa

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 5, 2017

So what say you?  Just more bluster from a headline seeking President and normal-ish naval patrols in the Pacific or have we reached a point of no return in an escalating conflict with a rogue North Korean leader that could turn violent at any moment?