George W. Bush paints his way through 9/11 anniversary

The former President posted a portrait of his infamous reaction to the 2001 terrorist attacks on Instagram.

By Dennis Perkins  |  September 11, 2026 | 2:45pm
Screenshot: Michael Moore/YouTube
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George W. Bush paints his way through 9/11 anniversary

Look, it’s good for retired people to have a hobby. And if you’re a former president, doing some B-minus paintings in your retirement is at least hurting a lot fewer people than starting a needless war based on a series of lies. 

But we kid, former President George W. Bush. Today, Bush posted a personal painting of the widely-memed moment preceding the interminable seven minutes (as memorably documented in Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11) where the perpetually befuddled two-term head of state sat frozen. To be fair, he held off any reaction to the first plane hitting the World Trade Center so he could finish reading a children’s book about a goat with some Florida schoolkids. 

It’s a questionable subject for the now 80-year-old former leader and amateur painter picked to immortalize the 25th anniversary of the deadly terrorist attack he and his Republican cronies used as pretext to launch the so-called War on Terror, to be sure. In a slideshow on Instagram, Bush also offered up equally earnest paintings of New York’s skyline shrouded in smoke, a hand holding a badge, and an American flag. 

In a statement accompanying the typically just-okay paintings, Bush wrote, “Twenty-five years ago, the actions of an enemy revealed the spirit of the American people. These and other paintings are my reflections of this solemn anniversary and will be on display all month at @thebushcenter. May we always honor the precious lives stolen, and may God bless America.”

And while nobody who was alive 25 years ago can claim to have had any idea what to do in the wake of such a horrific event, well, none of us were the president now, were we?  

 

 
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