Bush
© REUTERS/Evelyn HocksteinGeorge W. Bush speaks during an event commemorating 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 in Pennsylvania
Former President George W. Bush has used his speech on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to call out "violent extremists at home."

While visiting Shanksville, Pennsylvania on Saturday, Bush, who was president at the time of the deadly terrorist attacks, compared the foreign terrorists behind 9/11 to the supposed domestic extremists in the US today.

"We have seen growing evidence that the dangers to our country can come, not only across borders, but from violence that gathers within," the former president said.

The Republican admitted there is "little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home," but claimed they are "children of the same foul spirit" and seemed to reference the January 6 Capitol rioters when he said one "cultural overlap" is an interest to "defile national symbols."


Bush urged people to "confront" these threats and touched on the cultural gaps and partisanship that has grown in the country since he left office.

"When it comes to the unity of America, those days seem distant from our own," he said. "Malign force seems at work in our common life...so much of our politics has become a naked appeal to anger, fear and resentment."


Comment: That statement is applicable to Bush and those of his ilk.


Though Bush faced low approval ratings through much of his presidency and was shrouded in controversy thanks to highly-criticized decisions like the invasion of Iraq in 2003, he has grown in popularity among liberals since leaving office, mainly thanks to his public criticism of former President Donald Trump.


Comment: That his popularity has grown amongst the ideologically possessed is nothing to be proud of.


His latest speech earned him more points with this crowd, as many took to social media to celebrate the controversial leader's acknowledgement of a supposed threat from domestic terrorism.

"Almost weeping, George W. Bush rebukes those Americans who have turned their backs on 'the America I know.' Important speech," author and reporter Michael Beschloss tweeted.


More conservative critics have accused Bush of trying to embrace the politics of the Democratic Party to save face, something he's been accused of before when he would publicly criticize Trump, as well as Republican leaders who questioned the 2020 presidential election results.

"Shame on him," conservative pundit Julie Kelly tweeted.



Conservatives also called out the president for selectively focusing on Capitol rioters, while not acknowledging the violent protesters over the summer of 2020.



Bush visited a memorial ceremony on Saturday at the Shanksville site where the United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in a field after passengers managed to overtake the terrorists who had hijacked the plane.

The 9/11 terrorist attacks took the lives of almost 3,000 people.

Bush launched the war in Afghanistan in response to the attacks and he has been critical of the recent withdrawal, despite both Presidents Joe Biden and Trump saying the military conflict needed to come to an end.

In an interview with German broadcaster Deutsche Welle in July, Bush said he thought the pullout was wrong and could lead to "unbelievably bad" consequences.

'They crave his War on Terror': Glenn Greenwald tears into liberals for praising George W. Bush's 9/11 speech on threat 'at home'

Journalist Glenn Greenwald tore into several prominent Democrats after they praised ex-President George W. Bush's speech about the "dangers to our country" rising "at home" - 20 years after the beginning of his 'War on Terror'.

In his speech on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks - which sparked Bush's invasion of Afghanistan, war crimes, and the rise of a surveillance state against American citizens - the former president warned that there was "growing evidence that the dangers to our country can come not only across borders, but from violence that gathers within."

Bush appeared to be referring to the January 6 storming of the US Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump in protest of President Joe Biden's election victory, which they alleged to be fraudulent.


Comment: All the data points to the election being stolen: Undeniable Mathematical Evidence The Election Was Stolen From Trump


Since the storming took place in January, many prominent Democrats have attempted to compare the incident to 9/11, with President Biden even referring to the riot as "the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War."

Bush's speech this week, and in particular its warning of a new domestic terrorism threat, was praised and shared by many liberals, including former President Bill Clinton, commentator Keith Olbermann, Daily Beast editor-at-large Molly Jong-Fast, legal scholar Lawrence Tribe, and Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin - a fact that independent journalist Glenn Greenwald was happy to point out on Sunday.

"Liberals swooned emotionally all day yesterday for George W. Bush because they crave his War on Terror, but just want it unleashed domestically at their political opponents," Greenwald declared.

"Hearing Bush link 9/11 with 1/6, and compare his War on Terror with their new one, was ecstasy for them," he argued, calling comparisons between conservatives and "alleged 'Muslim extremists'" one of the "top political priorities of US liberalism, whose authoritarianism cannot be overstated."



Six hundred and thirty-nine Americans have been charged for taking part in the January 6 storming of the Capitol, with several complaining about the human rights violations they have allegedly experienced in jail since.

One protester, Ashley Babbitt, was killed during the storming by Capitol Police Officer Lt. Michael Byrd. Three others died from natural causes either during or after the incident, and one more person involved died from a drug overdose.

The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, killed 2,997 people.