Did George W. Bush Really Say That?
It seemed legit.
As last week’s dire employment report proved, Donald Trump sucks at job creation. I, on the other hand, excel.
Specifically, I have created a shit-ton of jobs for fact checkers at Snopes, a website that discerns whether things on the Internet are true. Over the years, I have almost singlehandedly kept Snopes in business.
Last Saturday, Snopes posted the following:
In January 2026, a claim that former President George W. Bush said he was celebrating “no longer having started the dumbest war in U.S. history” made the rounds online. The caption of one highly circulated post read:
CRAWFORD, TEXAS—Stating, “I never dreamed this day would come,” former President George W. Bush confirmed on Tuesday that he is celebrating no longer having started the dumbest war in U.S. history.
“When you make a boneheaded mistake as epic as I did, you pretty much assume that no one will ever do something stupider,” Bush said. “I gotta say, I’m pinching myself.”
The former president admitted, however, that “if anyone was going to out-dumb me, it was gonna be this guy.”
“Look, I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed,” he said. “But even I know not to stare at an eclipse.”
Snopes continued:
In 2003, Bush launched the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which turned into a prolonged operation lasting nearly nine years. Although total spending on the Iraq War is contested, a 2007 Congressional Research Service fact sheet estimated that the U.S. spent more than $10 billion in Iraq each month.
The claim that Bush said he was celebrating not having started the “dumbest war in U.S. history” emerged as the administration of President Donald Trump launched threats on Venezuela’s sovereignty by capturing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and declaring oversight over Venezuela. Both Iraq and Venezuela are nations rich in crude oil.
After dozens of Snopes readers searched our website to verify the claim, we confirmed there is no evidence Bush made any statement about “celebrating no longer having started the dumbest war in U.S. history.”
Rather, the rumor originated with The Borowitz Report — a site that describes its output as satirical in nature…
If a former U.S. president had actually made such an announcement, reputable news media outlets would have reported it. The Borowitz post included no information regarding when and where Bush allegedly made the statement. A Google search of the quote, “When you make a boneheaded mistake as epic as I did, you pretty much assume that no one will ever do something stupider,” also returned results related only to the satirical story in question.
Thanks for clearing that up, Snopes! I particularly appreciated your noting that both Iraq and Venezuela have a lot of oil. That’s the kind of information woefully missing in our current news environment.
Also, congrats on pointing out last year that Trump did not actually threaten to bomb Norway if he didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize. I made that one up, too, but it seemed legit.
I’ve said this many times, but it bears repeating: everything I write is true.
I'm old enough to remember when you didn't need Snopes to tell you whether something was satire.