Almost forgotten amidst all the furor over Trump’s astoundingly tasteless remarks aboard the Access Hollywood bus as he headed for the stage of the soap opera Days of Our Lives for a cameo performance in 2005, is the individual he was regaling -- with his tales of his failed effort to boink a married woman, his propensity for kissing any pretty woman who got near him, and his claim that his fame allowed him to grab women “by the p….y” and they couldn’t stop him.
That man was Billy Bush, who had served as a correspondent to the tabloid “entertainment” show and the year before had become its co-anchor. Bush raised no objections to what Trump was saying,. In fact as the bus pulled up and he and Trump spotted one of the attractive actresses from the show waiting to greet him, Bush chortled….”Score one for the Donald,” as if she was being delivered on a platter to please Trump. After debarking the bus, Bush then proceeded to encourage the woman to “give Donald a kiss.”
Bush, a nephew of former President George H.W. Bush, had risen to primary anchor of Access Hollywood in 2004, a year before he rode with Trump for the soap opera segment, and continued to do so until 2014.
Now, that all may be coming back to haunt him because in 2014 NBC named Bush as a co-anchor for their flagship morning news/entertainment program, The Today Show.
Bush has held that position as the infamous Trump candidacy unfolded. For more than two years, he watched Trump drive the birther moment and launch his campaign, through the primaries to the convention and the GOP nomination.
As a co-anchor at NBC, Bush clearly had to be aware of the mounting controversy over Trump’s reported actions with, and treatment of, women, his reputation as a philanderer, his demeanor, and his propensity for name calling and falsehoods.
And in all that time, Bush never apparently felt it was his duty to mention the bus incident on the air, or even, it seems, pass it along to the newsroom or to his bosses at NBC. Perhaps he remembered the conversation and realized that breaking the story would drag him into it and not in a positive way.
And now questions are being raised as to whether his actions on the bus with Trump, and his failure to report the reality he had seen to his own network, may wind up ending his career with the network.
Even though it was ten years ago, Trump’s statements at the time were so over the top and sexist and gross, that it is hard to believe Bush would have forgotten them. Bush has recently apologized for his comments (of course after they became public),
"Obviously I’m embarrassed and ashamed. It’s no excuse, but this happened eleven years ago—I was younger, less mature, and acted foolishly in playing along. I’m very sorry.”
But Fox news quotes a former NBC executive (unnamed) who predicts Bush could go into a long ‘hiatus” and never return. Others said it would create a media firestorm that NBC wants to avoid.
Meanwhile entertainment blog Page Six says Bush won’t be fired However they add that NBC has been flooded with messages from angry viewers wondering why the Today show has been running its usual pablum of 11 Great Fall Dinners, while trying to avoid the fact that a major host of the show was dead center in a controversy that has led to one of the biggest political scandals and meltdowns in modern history and “forgot” to tell anyone about it until after the fact.
Meanwhile, sleuths are still trying to figure out how the damning footage got into the hands of the Washington Post. One report says Access Hollywood was working on a story it planned to air after Sunday’s debate but that it got leaked. Just who did it is not clear, and reporter David Farenthold of the WaPo is not saying.
What do you think?