'Had to call in the professionals': Outcry as Bush advisor visits the White House

Reporters noted former George W. Bush Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice entering the White House on Friday, giving conservatives a chance on social media to wail at the alleged embrace of Bush-era neoconservatives.

NewsWire reported CNN as a source for the appearance of the former secretary, who cultivated a 20-year career as a policy expert on the Soviet Union before becoming an architect and advocate of the 2003 Iraq War. Under Bush, Rice argued for the removal of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein for the sake of U.S. security. And she maintained that stance even after inspectors discovered no weapons of mass destruction inside Iraq’s borders.

Both progressives and hard-right MAGA enthusiasts who remember Rice’s career condemn her as a classic neocon who sent the nation down a path of expensive international nation-building that cost both lives as well as money. Analysts suspect the cost of Bush’s Iraq invasion ultimately cost the U.S. $3 trillion.

Trump, himself, stood out from his competition in the 2016 Republican primaries by slamming other Republicans’ support for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is one of the reasons the anti-neoconservative wing of MAGA is so stung by Trump’s puzzling pivot into immersing the U.S. into another problematic Middle Eastern nation like Iran.

To critics, Rice’ appearance at the White House was the final proof of Trump’s embrace of old-school neoconservatism.

“Y’all wanna know how to go full neocon?” posted the Libertarian Party of Tennessee on X.

“ARE WE REALLY ENTERING ANOTHER FOREVER WAR?” said another critic on X, referencing the nation’s multi-decade involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Still another X commenter suggested the Trump administration may as well bring back infamous war enthusiast and Bush policy planner Paul Wolfowitz, who argued that the invasion of Iraq was necessary after the 9/11 attacks — despite enough Saudi citizens comprising enough of the terrorist group behind the bombings that victims’ families blame the Saudi government.

“It is so over,” complained another conservative critic on X, responding to the Newswire report, while another critic claimed Trump “started a Middle East conflict so bad they had to call in the professionals.”