The Trump situation has forced me to re-evaluate. I was highly critical of GW, but to be fair I think he was genuinely trying to do the best for the US and its interests at the time. I don’t buy the idea that he was totally corrupt and only in it for himself and his cronies. We’ve actually seen what that really looks like now. He just had a distorted idea of what the national interests were, and too few scruples in pursuing those interests, as he saw them. He couldn’t see the negative effects, or discounted them too much.
He was however, surrounded by people who were manipulating his earnestness to the degree that it was only to in it for themselves and their cronies. Dick Cheney was by all accounts, one of the most powerful vice presidents of the modern age and pushed GWB along on many things and was a key player in convincing GWB (and alot of other people) about WMDs in Iraq, and Dick Cheney was allowed to get away with alot of abuse of power in the position of vice president.
I also agree he didn't have a timely re-assessment of the downsides of his actions.
