George H.W. Bush calls Trump a ‘blowhard’ in book, says ‘I don’t like him’
Former President George H.W. Bush does not like Donald Trump. And he did not hold back about it.
“I don't like him,” Bush said in 2016. “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.”
Bush’s critical comments about Trump were quoted in a book that features both Bush and his son, former President George W. Bush, by historian Mark Updegrove, titled “The Last Republicans,” according to CNN.
Updegrove asked the elder Bush, 93, what he thought Trump was seeking in running for president. Bush told the author that he thought Trump was motivated by “a certain ego,” instead of public service, the New York Times reported.
"If you look at the Bush family, it makes perfect sense,” Updegrove told CNN. “Donald Trump is everything that the Bush family is not. George Bush grew up thinking about the greater good. Donald Trump is manifestly narcissistic. It’s part of his brand. And that brand is the antithesis of the Bush brand.”
Meanwhile, George W. Bush told the author that he worried he would be “the last Republican president.” Updegrove to the New York Times that at the time, he thought Bush was worried Clinton would become president.
“But if you look at his values and those shared by his father and Ronald Reagan, they are very much in contrast to the values of the Republican Party today, in particular the platform that Donald Trump ran on, which is essentially protectionism and a certain xenophobia, Updegrove told the Times.
Updegrove also told CNN that when Trump said, ‘I am my own adviser,’ George W. Bush said, ‘Wow, this guy doesn't know what it means to be president.’”
It’s revealed in the book that neither Bush voted for Trump, according to the New York Times. While the elder Bush voted for Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush voted for “none of the above.”
Cynthia Roldán: @CynthiaRoldan
This story was originally published November 4, 2017 at 11:10 AM with the headline "George H.W. Bush calls Trump a ‘blowhard’ in book, says ‘I don’t like him’."