Bush 2 was a fascist. Stealing the 2000 election, and constructing this whole extrajudicial framework with ICE and Guantanamo and whatnot, very directly laid the groundwork for what's happening right now. Trump is only able to direct a law enforcement agency to wander the land executing his will without having to convince anyone whose allegiance is to the law instead of their orders, because George Bush set it up for him in the first place. Right-wing media at the time getting in on defining a fantastical narrative under which they could direct the anger of their followers at "enemies," Bush saying that atheists shouldn't be considered citizens... it was all there. It was just new, so it was just getting started, it couldn't have much impact and the country resisted a lot of it.

Trump is more fascist than Bush was. But the people who were seeing the first little seeds of something that could grow into something horrifying, all the way back then, were 100% right.