After summer comes fall. When trees change color and long walks are all you do over the weekend. For my generation, this is usually a time of reminiscence, remembrance of times past, comparing to before, and uttering the inevitable phrase: when I was younger.
From time to time, it seems that the current Trump – Pence presidency is like reliving 1990 all over again. George Bush senior and Dan Quayle were President and VP and all the issues at stake today (a foreign foe threatening whilst the US has the backing of the world, pending tax reform and the liberal press having a field day with anything as trivial as a spelling mistake) are seemingly a repeat from back then.
<b>Foreign Foes</b>
A foe that threatens the US whilst exercises are being held near his territory just like we are seeing now with North Korea, is simply a reliving of the early days of 1990 to me. Even an exact comparison between today’s situation with the weeks right before the first Gulf War in that same year is in order.
Back then, Saddam Hussein has invaded its neighbor Kuwait and President Bush had the support of the whole world when he decided to invade. Saudi Arabia and the US had an excellent relationship and the Saudi’s let the US ground troops be stationed on their soil.
Trump has already garnered great respect in the Middle East and it is already quite clear that the US will have a good understanding with the Saudis during his presidency. Also, the Asian allies Japan and South Korea seem willing to follow Trump in whatever he does.
Moreover, the whole world stands with the US as it prepares to answer the threats coming from another crazy dictator in North Korea. Trump might want to take a look at 90s history on how to handle it.
<b>Spelling Mistakes </b>
The liberal press ridiculing the White House occupant for spelling mistakes in tweets and off the cuff remarks. This could not be more Dan Quayle. If he were VP today, he would tweet ‘I didn't live in this century, but in this century's history’ or ‘I like Latin America though I don’t speak latin’ and his unforgettable ‘potato potatoe’ is just a repeat of Trump’s ‘covfefe’. A simple mistake for those that like him, a reason to attack him for those who don’t.
For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, look it up, it’s lots of fun.
Quayle was said to be a lightweight during his time as VP and only received true recognition for his work after the fact mostly. He did get respect from his voters and even ran again for election in 2000.
<b>Next election</b>
Of course, there is a downside to all this comparison. In 1992, at the end of the Bush – Quayle presidency, the Republicans were soundly beaten in the general election, most notably because there was a third candidate, Texas businessman Ross Perot who stole some 15% of possible Republican votes.
Then again, anyone having seen the massive cheers President Trump received during his visit to Corpus Cristi this week will agree that any Texas businessman wanting to go up against the current White House administration in 2020 will have a hard time gathering any support.
And if Michael Moore starts saying Trump will win in 2020 as from September of 2017, then you know the Democrats are the ones having issues and not the GOP.
Finally, anyone’s who’s seen this week how the White House administration handled Hurricane Harvey, knows that even the press will have to admit that sooner or later.
