The Cheney Decision That Made Bush's Silence More Noticeable
Chapter 03 - The Cheney Decision That Made Bush's Silence More Noticeable
WASHINGTON — September 2024.
The presidential election was approaching.
Donald Trump was running against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
And a prominent Republican from the George W. Bush administration made an extraordinary announcement.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said he would vote for Harris.
Cheney, who had served beside Bush for eight years, publicly criticized Trump and expressed concern about his conduct following the 2020 election.
His daughter, former Representative Liz Cheney, had also announced her support for Harris.
The decisions attracted national attention.
Two prominent Republicans associated with an earlier generation of conservative leadership had chosen to support the Democratic presidential nominee rather than Trump.
That made George W. Bush's position even more interesting.
Would he follow his former vice president?
Would he endorse Trump?
Or would he stay out of the contest?
On September 7, 2024, Bush's office provided an answer.
He did not plan to endorse either presidential candidate.
His spokesperson also said Bush and his wife, Laura, would not disclose how they intended to vote.
The explanation was consistent with Bush's longstanding retirement from presidential campaign politics.
But it did not satisfy everyone.
Some commentators argued that the stakes of the election justified a public statement from a former Republican president.
Others believed former presidents should be free to withdraw from partisan campaigning.
The distinction was important.
Dick Cheney's decision was a public endorsement.
Bush's decision was not to make one.
And that difference did not establish how Bush actually voted.
Nor did it reveal all his private views about either candidate.
Trump went on to win the November 2024 presidential election.
On January 20, 2025, he was inaugurated for a second term.
George and Laura Bush attended the ceremony in Washington.
The images were unmistakable.
There stood the former president whose family had been repeatedly criticized by Trump.
And there was Trump, returning to the White House after one of the most contentious periods in modern American politics.
But attendance at an inauguration is not automatically a political endorsement.
Former presidents have traditionally participated in presidential inaugurations as part of the peaceful and constitutional transfer of executive power.
Bush's presence was consistent with that institutional tradition.
Still, the image drew attention because of the long history between the two men.
It raised another question.
Could a former president reject a political movement's direction while still participating in ceremonies recognizing the office its leader occupies?
The answer depends on distinguishing institutions from personal approval.
One can attend a presidential inauguration without agreeing with the incoming president's policies.
But as Trump's second term unfolded, some observers wanted more than institutional courtesy from Bush.
They wanted to hear his voice.
And a new report in September 2026 added an unexpected detail to the mystery.
It concerned a painting.
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A portrait supposedly created far from the White House.
And the subject was Donald Trump.
