The Bush Dynasty Proves Again Why GOP Voters Were Right to Move On

Barbara Bush just wrote a check to help flip Texas blue, and honestly, nobody who’s been paying attention should be surprised.

The former first daughter dropped $2,500 into Lone Star Rising PAC, the main vehicle propping up Democratic Senate hopeful James Talarico. That’s the same James Talarico who’s spent his campaign railing against capitalism and the oil and gas industry that built Texas into an economic powerhouse. The same guy who talks about class warfare while jetting off to meet with America’s richest donor enclaves. But sure, Barbara Bush thinks he’s the right person to represent the Lone Star State.

Now, $2,500 isn’t much compared to the $150,000 that Eagles frontman Don Henley threw at the same PAC. But here’s what matters. Barbara Bush didn’t hide this donation in some anonymous dark money group. She put her famous name right there on the FEC filing for everyone to see. She wanted people to know.

That tells you everything about where the Bush family stands these days. They’re not quietly uncomfortable with conservative politics. They’re actively working against it.

You know what’s rich? Talarico has made a whole show of bashing big money in politics. He’s criticized Senator John Cornyn and Ken Paxton for supposedly letting corporations and billionaires decide elections instead of regular Texans. But when Bush family money flows his direction, suddenly he’s fine with it. He told the Texas Tribune he won’t “unilaterally disarm” on campaign spending. Translation: principles are negotiable when there’s an election to win.

Barbara Bush lives in Brooklyn now, because of course she does. She works as vice president of social impact and inclusion at the NBA, where she apparently uses the “convening power of basketball” to advance causes like health equity and sustainability. These are the buzzwords of corporate progressivism, the kind of language that sounds noble in conference rooms but means absolutely nothing to families struggling with inflation and energy costs.

The tension between the Bush family and Donald Trump goes back to 2016, when Trump had the audacity to challenge Jeb’s campaign and refuse to genuflect before Republican royalty. The Bushes never forgave him for that. Never mind that Trump actually delivered on conservative promises that the Bush administration fumbled. Never mind that he appointed constitutionalist judges, cut regulations, and didn’t drag us into nation-building disasters. The Bushes cared more about decorum than results, more about their legacy than the country’s direction.

This donation crystallizes everything that went wrong with establishment Republicanism. The Bush era gave us compassionate conservatism, which was just big government with better PR. It gave us endless wars that cost trillions and accomplished nothing. It gave us a Supreme Court justice in John Roberts who’s been a disaster for constitutional governance. And when voters finally said enough, when they chose a different path, the Bushes took it personally.

George W. Bush raises money for Republicans, just not for candidates who actually threaten the status quo. His daughter donates to Democrats trying to flip critical Senate seats. They want the GOP to lose, or at least to learn its lesson about rejecting their preferred style of politics. That lesson being: know your place, defer to your betters, and for heaven’s sake, stop winning without their permission.

Texas Republicans need to hold that Senate seat. The margin in the upper chamber is razor thin, and every race matters. Having a Bush family member actively funding the opposition isn’t just embarrassing. It’s a betrayal of everything the Republican Party is supposed to stand for.

But maybe that’s the point. Maybe the Bushes never really stood for limited government and individual liberty in the first place. Maybe it was always about managing America’s decline with grace and maintaining their position in the process. The mask has slipped, and we’re seeing what was underneath all along.

Republican voters figured this out years ago. That’s why Jeb’s campaign crashed and burned despite a hundred million dollar war chest. That’s why the Bush brand holds no currency in today’s GOP. The base moved on because they had to. They wanted leaders who would actually fight, not manage the surrender with proper etiquette.

Barbara Bush’s donation is just confirmation that voters made the right call.