'My God, what happened to us?' Bush staff decries the state of the Republican Congress

The Washington Post reports Republican Congressional and White House staff are shocked at the level of rancor between Republicans and Democrats, which looks nothing like the spirit of bipartisanship from just a few decades ago.

“You’re like, ‘Oh, my God, what the hell happened to us?’” said Jean Becker, who served as Bush’s post-presidency chief of staff for 25 years about the absence of civil dialogue.

Former senator Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who did not seek reelection in 2022, told the Post that the demise of a middle ground has “fundamentally changed Congress and campaigns.”

Blunt served on a committee exploring a potential presidential bid by George W. Bush in 1999. At the time, Blunt said its members could count on 30 states that could vote for either party. Now, he says, there are only seven deciding U.S. elections. Plus, there are fewer states with a senator from both parties.

“That makes a difference in how officeholders function,” with less willingness to look “beyond party affiliation,” Blunt told the Post.

“The result is that Congress in 2025 was ranked as the most partisan since Congressional Quarterly began tracking the measure in 1953,” said Post reporter Michael Kranish. “The tally found that 85.3 percent of roll calls were what CQ called party unity votes, meaning a majority of each party was on opposite sides. In 1990, the comparable rate was 54 percent in the Senate and 49 percent in the House.”

And the isolating primary process in midterm elections could only divide candidates further, and the primary process weeds out candidates who do not passionately identify through party loyalty. This produces a slate of candidates who may be even more unlikely to bargain with the other team, regardless of whether a Democrat or a Republican survives the November election.

Even notorious party partisan former House speaker Newt Gingrich told the Post “he worries that things have gone too far.”

Gingrich claims he laments the lack of focus on legislation supported by most of the country. But former Republicans complain that Gingrich shares much of the blame for the hostile state of the GOP.

“It is the party that Newt Gingrich built,” said Republican strategist Steve Schmidt. “It is a party of grievance, resentment and bigotry.”

The Post points out that Gingrich recently formed America’s New Majority Project to poll and research issues with “broad support,” but the former legislator admitted to the Post that he is not working with any Democrats on the initiative.

“No. No. The trick is to find the issues that drive the other party to be for you,” Gingrich said.

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