The next George Bush

Ultimately, the county party voted to keep Shafi on as vice chairman, but the ordeal still weighs on Bush’s mind. “There’s a lot at stake in 2020, and I don’t know how much more I can say this to my fellow leaders in the state party,” he told me. “We talk in echo chambers. We don’t go to college campuses. We’ve given up going to churches and synagogues, to black communities and Asian communities that hold many of our beliefs but haven’t heard the message.” He then mentioned his own visits to the highly diverse county of Fort Bend, where he took part in a Chinese New Year celebration and delivered a speech, which was translated into Chinese, about voter registration and civic engagement. “Those are the types of things we need to do.”

But how does one sell the party of Trump to communities he’s repeatedly disparaged? On immigration, Bush claims that the challenge isn’t one of substance. “It’s the tone that is not working,” he said, adding that “Texas wants the national government to come forward with solutions,” such as “supporting Border Patrol,” “strategically located physical structures,” and a plan to deal with people who have overstayed their visas, which Bush feels is “the most overlooked issue.”

But however much Bush adjusts his own tone, or focuses on advancing reasonable policies, he’s still tied to the president—and he still feels he needs to be. This helps explain his often awkward dance over the past two years. How he endorsed Trump in 2016, but rarely utters his name.