Former President George W. Bush called out the Trump era without naming names, saying on Thursday, “Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication.”
Video of the former president speaking at the George W. Bush Institute:
Former Pres. George W Bush: "Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication." pic.twitter.com/KyQK5vul3j
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 19, 2017
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NOW: Fmr Pres George W. Bush: "Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories & outright fabrication."
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) October 19, 2017
Bush also called out Russian election interference:
George W. Bush on Russian election interference: "This effort is broad, systemic, and stealthy…but ultimately, this effort won't succeed." pic.twitter.com/PosppNVMys
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 19, 2017
While Bush did many things to lower his own approval ratings, including a devastatingly bungled response to Hurricane Katrina and starting a war in Iraq based on what came to be understood as false pretenses, he was careful after 9/11 not to divide the nation.
Bush conducted himself with decorum, even when stumbling over words. He maintained a sense of the leader of the United States behaving like a role model and being a moral leader.
It’s telling that Bush can call out his own party’s President as a bigot. It reveals just how low the GOP has stooped to meet Trump in the gutter, and how many people they’ve left behind in their desperation.
Donald Trump is a bigot. He enables bigotry. His lies are the source of division in our country. They were under Obama and they continue to be now.
Pundits keep talking about how we are a divided nation, but they don’t point the finger at the people telling the lies that a large part of the Republican base absolutely believe. When groups of people are living in such ugly bubbles of hate based on utter fictions, division is the natural reaction.
Not everyone can stand living steeped in poisonous lies. George W. Bush can see it and he understands the dangers, just as he understood them after 9/11.
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