Kinder, Gentler America of George H.W. Bush Being Obliterated by Trump

In April of 1991, a devastating cyclone struck Bangladesh that left over 140,000 people dead and 10 million homeless. In a country frequently ravaged by natural disasters, this was still in a category all its own. A United States amphibious task force comprising 15 ships and 2,500 men was returning to the US in May after the Gulf War. The then-president George H.W. Bush diverted this force as part of Operation Sea Angel to provide relief to millions of Bangladeshis. It eventually swelled to 4,600 marines and 3,000 sailors who were credited with saving about 200,000 lives.

Operation Sea Angel in Bangladesh

Operation Sea Angel in Bangladesh

Operation Sea Angel in Bangladesh

As a Bangladeshi American, I remember being moved to tears by the generosity driving Operation Sea Angel. Here was America fulfilling its destiny as a “shining city upon a hill,” with president Bush acting on his personal philosophy that integral to any successful life was serving the needy.

When the 41^st president passed away at 94, I found myself wondering about America’s descent into cruelty in the two years since Donald Trump took office. Trump recently deployed American troops at the Mexican border, not for any humanitarian reason but to prevent the caravan of migrants from Central America fleeing murder and mayhem for a decent shot at life in the U.S.

We daily hear about Trump undermining America’s alliances and giving autocrats free rein in pursuing their illiberal ideologies. What is often overlooked is the naked cruelty seeping into our national psyche that is slowly but steadily changing us as a people. Considering others as less than human is becoming as blasé as posting a cat video on Instagram. If MAGA requires firing tear gas and bullets at women and children dying of thirst and hunger, why not? If coddling killers help grease the wheels of economy, what’s to complain? If demeaning women and encouraging anti-Semitism and Islamophobia can strengthen the base, what’s not to like?

People who knew George Bush used words like grace and kindness to describe him. He had his darker side, of course. He was eager to appease China’s leaders than in demanding justice for the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. He used his power to discredit Anita Hill to defend his Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas in 1991. He appeared aloof from the daily challenges faced by ordinary Americans. But even his detractors agreed that he was a fundamentally decent human being who tried to do right and focus on what was best for America’s long-term interests. It is difficult to imagine Donald Trump writing a letter of apology to anyone, or to Japanese Americans, as Bush did, containing these sentences: “A monetary sum and words alone cannot restore lost years or erase painful memories; neither can they fully convey our Nation’s resolve to rectify injustice and to uphold the rights of individuals. We can never fully right the wrongs of the past. But we can take a clear stand for justice and recognize that serious injustices were done to Japanese Americans during World War II.”

Time and again Bush transcended partisan politics when he felt America’s future was at stake. That’s why he was able to leave this note for his successor Bill Clinton in the White House: “There will be very tough times, made even more difficult by criticism you may not think is fair. I’m not a very good one to give advice; but just don’t let the critics discourage you or push you off course … Your success now is our country’s success. I am rooting hard for you.”

It’s useless speculating if Trump will leave a similar note for his successor when he leaves office but there are hints. When pipe bombs were recently mailed to former presidents Clinton and Obama, among others, Trump condemned the act as ‘despicable.’ When asked, however, if he will call the former presidents, he said, “I’ll pass.”

Cruelty, aided by social media, is coming down in such torrent that unless we are on guard, we are in danger of normalizing it. No one – not democrats, republicans, independents or the indifferent - is immune from cruelty and its attendant vice of greed. As we mourn the passing of George H.W. Bush, we should review the state of our hearts so that we don’t end up subscribing to Gordon Gekko’s modified mantra for Trump’s time: “Cruelty and greed are good. Cruelty and greed work.”

The kinder, gentler America of George H.W. Bush will disappear unless we demand accountability from our leaders and make our republic ‘a government of law and not of men.’