Both Bush presidents worry Trump is destroying GOP
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is not a favorite in the extended Bush household. Former President George H.W. Bush considers him a “blowhard,” only interested in feeding his own ego. Former President George W. Bush, his son, thinks Trump fans anger and came to office with no understanding of the job.
And both worry Trump has blown up a Republican Party they spent two lifetimes building, a party once committed to removing boundaries to trade and immigration, promoting democracy and civil society and asserting a robust U.S. leadership role in the world.
A new book on the two Bushes who served in the White House provides a glance at their apprehension over Trump’s rise to power and what it means for the country. The first book ever written with their cooperation about their relationship, it also opens a window into the only father-and-son tandem to hold the presidency since John Adams and John Quincy Adams.
In “The Last Republicans,” Mark K. Updegrove chronicles an era that feels almost dated in today’s reality-show politics, when the Republican establishment controlled the party and Washington, and when a single family could occupy the presidency and vice presidency for a combined 20 years.
Neither of the two Republican former presidents voted for Trump — the father voted for Hillary Clinton and the son voted for “none of the above,” as he told Updegrove.
Indeed, at one point during the 2016 presidential campaign, the younger Bush confided to the author, “I’m worried that I will be the last Republican president.”
That inspired the title of the book — which will be published Nov. 14 by HarperCollins.
“At the time, I think he was concerned that Hillary Clinton would win,” Updegrove, the author of several books on the presidency, said in an interview. “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.”
In discussing Trump, the elder president was blunter. “I don’t like him,” Bush said in May 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.” Rather than being motivated by public service, Bush said, Trump seemed to be driven by “a certain ego.”
The younger Bush was more circumspect but also clearly disapproving. The Bushes felt stung by Trump’s ground-burning attacks that helped destroy the campaign of Jeb Bush, the son and brother of the presidents.
“You can either exploit the anger, incite it,” George W. Bush told Updegrove, “or you can come up with ideas to deal with it.” Jeb, he said, came up with solutions, “but it didn’t fit with the mood.”
“If you’re angry with the powers that be,” he added, “you’re angry with the so-called establishment, and there’s nothing more established than having a father and brother that have been president.”
When Trump entered the race, George W. Bush thought he would not last, and was surprised by Trump’s success at capturing the nomination. Still, he was not impressed.
When Trump declared that “I’m my own adviser,” Bush thought he did not understand the presidency. He also lamented Trump’s lack of humility. “As you know from looking at my family, it is a certain heritage, that’s what they expect, and we’re not seeing that” in Trump.