At first glance, former US President George W. Bush is enjoying a quiet retirement in his home in an exclusive suburb of Dallas. Paint, participate in golf competitions and do not miss baseball games. For a long time it appeared that he had retired from politics for good – but his increasingly frequent public appearances have given his supporters reason to hope, the Daily Mail reports.
George W Bush paintings ARCHIVE PHOTO
“You have a voice that would resonate with a lot more Americans than some people around you are telling you,” former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele said imploringly recently.
Bush ended his term on January 20, 2009, but there is an expectation that it will not be the last word of the most successful American political dynasty of all time – according to rumors, something is in the works, an action aimed at ending the so-called “Bush exile” and reclaiming the Republican Party from Trump and Maga.
Behind the scenes, and still having close ties across the country, a shadow Republican Party is waiting to take over after Trump's departure, the Daily Mail writes.
And while the former US president is sticking to his resolve not to publicly criticize Trump – to the frustration of some of his former advisers – he may be opposed to the idea of having a low-key role in shaping the long-term future of the Republican Party.
A challenge from a Bush-aligned presidential candidate likely won't emerge until 2030.
But amid the current turmoil in the Republican Party, and with Trump unable to run for a third term, there is growing pressure to take the first steps in 2028.
“There's no question that Vance has an advantage as vice president. But I don't think it's certain by any means. There's going to be a huge open beach in the Republican Party (in 2028),” a former Bush official told the Daily Mail.
Fundamentally different policies
In 2016, Trump won over the Republican Party by rejecting Bush's aggressive foreign policy and “perpetual wars” in the Middle East, denouncing their trillion-dollar costs and the interventionism of “neocons” like Dick Cheney.
But former Bush officials feel vindicated by what they see as a failure of Trump's policy of appeasing Vladimir Putin.
“Putin feels he has a free hand now,” said one former Bush official, adding that Trump is ill-advised on the matter.
“He has consciously surrounded himself with people who say yes to everything. He thinks that will do him more good because he will no longer be coerced by the deep state, but in fact it will not be very good for him and the country.”
There can be no doubt that Trump retains control of the Republican Party.
But a recent AP/NORC poll found that only 68 percent of Republicans approve of how he's run the federal government, down from 81 percent in March.
Earlier this year, a Gallup poll showed George W. Bush enjoying a 52 percent approval rating among Americans, compared to Trump's 48 percent.
In August, Trump moved portraits of Bush and his late father, President George HW Bush, from the White House to a secure area where they cannot be seen.
What the Bush family is up to
Coincidence or not, that same week, George W. Bush and his brother Jeb, the former governor of Florida, were among the family dignitaries who gathered for a secret, and potentially important, event at their summer residence in Kennebunkport, on the coast of Maine.
The complex was known as the “Summer White House” during the Bush presidency.
Without going public and without the presence of the media, a total of 65 friends of the family gathered and put money into a fund to help launch another Bush's political campaign.
Tech entrepreneur Jonathan Bush, 56, cousin of “W” and Jeb and brother of TV personality Billy Bush, will run for governor of the moderate state of Maine in 2026.
If he wins, it would be the third term as governor for a member of the Bush family.
Both George W. Bush and Jeb Bush used their governorships – of Texas and Florida, respectively – as springboards for presidential runs.
Although any intervention in Republican politics is risky for the former US president, it is believed that he was unhappy with Trump's decision to dismantle USAID.
In June, Bush addressed staff in a farewell video, lamenting cuts to a global program he initiated – the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
In a statement seen as a blow to Trump, he said: “Is it in our national interest that 25 million people who would otherwise be dead are alive now? I think so.”
If Jonathan Bush's bid for governor is successful, it could mark a turning point for the Bush dynasty.
After the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, dozens of former Bush administration officials left the Republican Party, joining anti-Trump groups such as The Lincoln Project and Republican Voters Against Trump, which could ultimately provide the electoral infrastructure for a Bush-aligned candidate.
In 2024, the waters were tested by Nikki Haley.
She was accompanied on the campaign trail by Chris Sununu, the governor of New Hampshire and scion of another Republican dynasty.
Thirty-six years earlier, George HW Bush had by his side John Sununu, Chris's father, who was then the governor of New Hampshire and who became Bush's White House chief of staff.
Haley was demolished by Trump in the 2024 Republican primary.
Two years earlier, Jeb's son George Prescott Bush ran for Texas attorney general against ultraconservative Ken Paxton.
Paxton, who was endorsed by Trump, promised to “end the Bush dynasty” and won by a wide margin.
But new Bush members are already emerging, and efforts to end the family's exile are growing.
Trump's approval rating recently dipped to 36 percent in an AP/NORC poll, with 62 percent of respondents disapproving.
In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Karl Rove, the adviser once known as “Bush's mastermind,” said, “His tariff demands are dragging him down.”
“Voters will not blame other foreign countries for higher prices or the fact that there are fewer goods. They will blame Donald Trump and his Republican Party.”
When Trump is left behind, it could open the door within the Republican Party for the rise of an “anti-MAGA” heir to Bush.
