George Bush, who lied his way into illegally invading another country, presided over military torcher, establish an extrajudicial prison camp in Cuba, etc. etc., has had his reputation scrubbed and purified simply by giving a butter scotch to Michelle Obama at a funeral. Trump can certainly come back from this. FFS people even seem to respect Dick Cheney again.
Bush understood the world and wasn't a narcissistic sociopath.