Bush Jr. worried he'll be "last Republican president" - White House responds

Alicia Cohn
The Hill
Sat, 04 Nov 2017 20:51 UTC

Former President George W. Bush and his father, former President George H.W. Bush, both criticize President Trump in a new book to be released this month, with George W. Bush admitting that, despite Trump's political affiliation, he's worried "that I will be the last Republican president."

George H.W. Bush also calls Trump a "blowhard" in the book, "The Last Republicans," by Mark K. Updegrove, which was previewed by The New York Times and CNN on Friday.

"I don't like him. I don't know much about him, but I know he's a blowhard. And I'm not too excited about him being a leader," the senior Bush said, according to the author. He also commented on Trump's "ego."

"Wow, this guy doesn't know what it means to be president," the younger Bush said. He indicated that a president should not "exploit the anger, incite it" but rather "come up with ideas to deal with it."

Neither man voted for Trump in the last election, and George H.W. Bush confirms in the book that he voted for Hillary Clinton. George W. Bush said he left the top of his ballot blank and did not vote for Clinton because she has "bad judgment."

The White House on Saturday responded to the criticism revealed in the new book.

"The American people voted to elect an outsider who is capable of implementing real, positive, and needed change - instead of a lifelong politician beholden to special interests," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. "If they were interested in continuing decades of costly mistakes, another establishment politician more concerned with putting politics over people would have won."

Comment: This is rich coming from Bush the Younger, also known as the dry drunk who couldn't string together a coherent sentence during his two terms as nominal president. The White House had its own response:

"The American people voted to elect an outsider who is capable of implementing real, positive, and needed change - instead of a lifelong politician beholden to special interests," White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement to The Hill. "If they were interested in continuing decades of costly mistakes, another establishment politician more concerned with putting politics over people would have won."

In another statement reported by CNN, a White House source slammed the Bush legacy.

"If one presidential candidate can disassemble a political party, it speaks volumes about how strong a legacy its past two presidents really had," the White House said, according to CNN.

Touche.

The preview of the new book also follows a speech by George W. Bush in which he said "bigotry seems emboldened" in the United States, and warned that Americans need to reject "white supremacy."

The younger Bush didn't mention Trump by name during the speech, and a spokesman said Bush's remarks were "a long-planned speech on liberty and democracy."

But in the new book, George W. Bush said his concerns about Trump's candidacy included the country's growing "nativism" and "isolationism."

Both Bushes offer their thoughts on the Iraq War in the book. George W. Bush says the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, "changed the equation" in Iraq and demanded a change in policy.

"I'm very comfortable that when people fully analyze my decisions in the proper context, they will understand why my foreign policy-not in the principles of U.S. leadership but in the application-was different," George W. Bush said.

But the White House said the Bush legacy "begins with the Iraq war, one of the greatest foreign policy mistakes in American history."

George H.W. Bush said in the book that Bush's decision on the Iraq War "will be seen as the right thing to do."

"Saddam Hussein was a bad guy," George H.W. Bush said. "I think history will be okay with it."

Looks like Bush has gone full Hillary.