Veteran journalist Soledad O’Brien tweeted:

“Not super bewildering. Her husband, President George HW Bush leveraged the racism of the Willie Horton ad — a coded racist appeal to white voters — to victory. President Trump has taken that ball and run with it.”
https://twitter.com/Russian_Starr/status/1110881534851063809
....As Rice University historian Douglas Brinkley told PBS shortly after Bush’s death:

“Bush wanted to see himself as being a man devoid of racism. But the reality is that Bush often had to do dog whistles and appeal to less enlightened Americans on race.”

It is understandable that Bush, who probably saw her husband as a gentleman, would be disgusted by the behavior of Trump — especially when she considers how he treated her son during the campaign. But it is telling that someone who had a front-row seat to two American presidencies seemed so unaware of the values within her own party that she would view Trump as an interloper instead of the next chapter of a continuing story.

And that’s why, as Axios reports, they are planning to hold on to the minority of voters who support the president while working overtime to launch a scorched-Earth campaign against the eventual Democratic nominee.

“The GOP]is going to make whoever the nominee is radioactive well before they get the nomination,” one former Trump campaign aide explained. “That’s Trump’s strategy. Stay at 45-46 percent [in the polls] and just make the other guy radioactive.”

Given Trump’s own unpopularity, the campaign reasons, the only way to get him back into the White House will be to convince swing voters that the Democratic nominee will pack the Supreme Court, end the Electoral College, and grant reparations to black Americans.

Throughout his first term, Trump has consistently posted lower approval ratings than any of his predecessors. FiveThirtyEight’s average of public opinion polls at the moment gives Trump an approval rating of just under 42 percent with a disapproval rating of 53 percent.

What Democrats propose is the sort of step-by-step expansion of Obamacare that both Republicans and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) vehemently oppose. Republicans want nothing; Sanders wants to scrap everything in favor of single-payer health care.

The House Democrats’ bill sets out a proposal to, among other things, reduce health-care premiums (capping out-of-pocket costs at 10 percent of income) and expanding tax credits for those making up to 400 percent of the federal poverty line. Protect Our Care, a progressive group backing the legislation, explains, “In all, the bill’s extended tax credits, reinsurance programs and premium assistance would cut premiums for all ACA-compliant plans sold on the individual market, reducing premiums or deductibles for 13 million with individual market coverage and creating lower cost options for 12 million uninsured people eligible for coverage through the marketplace.” The bill also reinstates the guarantee for those with preexisting conditions, disallows non-ACA compliant plans and reaffirms the list of essential health-care benefits to be covered by the ACA.

A fire at a petrochemical storage facility sent noxious clouds over two Texas cities, but state authorities are telling residents not to worry. Some residents, told to shelter in place as the fire burned last week and now experiencing symptoms including vomiting, burning eyes, and shortness of breath, aren’t so sure.

In addition to the fire that burned for four days, a containment wall broke Friday, letting chemical waste into waterways and causing another fire. Tests by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality found nine different chemicals in the water that “exceed their health-protective concentration level,” but insisted there’s no threat to drinking water. The TCEQ also found benzene in the air, but said it wasn’t at dangerous levels.

“I have a garden in my backyard. I'm about to take it up,” area resident Brian Williams told CNN. “I'm not going to eat anything out of it anymore.” Williams says the smoke made him feel sick and he vomited, but since “A lot of us can't afford to go to the doctor … we have to live with this.”

Another area resident, who says “We were held hostage in our own homes,” tried to get his blood tested for benzene exposure. But insurance denied the test, which would have cost $350 out of pocket.