Actually what has surprised me is how many on our side blame the Democrats for the crash, when it was OBVIOUS, at the time, that banks were making loans that could never be paid back and Bush’s people were happy to go along as the economy seemed to be growing, due to that infusion of fake money. In other words, what was going on then was an extra $500B to $1T of deficit spending, but without it showing up on government books (until the crash).
It was so OBVIOUS to me that I shorted a bunch of financials and was able to buy my wife a nice car, due to the crash (but I admit, it was nerve racking when all of the ‘experts’ were saying everything was just fine).
Bush’s people did more than “go along” with the loans-for-unqualified homebuyers schemes. They actively promoted the policy. Rove saw it as a way to expand the Republican base. Bush SIGNED a law that had the federal government paying the down-payments for people who couldn’t afford to buy homes on their own. And he BRAGGED about that law:
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/12/20031216-9.html
One thing Trump is willing to say that other GOP candidates won’t admit publicly: Bush was not a good president. Most Americans believe that, so the GOP will have a hard time until it stops evading that fact.