New book reveals that Barbara Bush hated Trump — and Twitter is having a field day
A new book about the late former first lady Barbara Bush claims she didn’t think much of Donald Trump.
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In The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty, Susan Page draws on her frequent interviews with Bush, who died last April, as well as her personal diaries.
The book reveals the Bush matriarch’s disdain for the current president, who defeated her son Jeb for the Republican nomination in 2016. Her dislike for Trump — “I don’t understand why people are for him,” she told Page — prompted her to distance herself from the Republican Party. In 2016, she reportedly wrote in Jeb’s name, while former President George H.W. Bush is said to have cast his ballot for Hillary Clinton — his first time voting for a Democrat. (Clinton, as it happens, became first lady when husband Bill Clinton defeated President Bush in the 1992 election.)
In her diary, Bush wrote of her “horror” to learn that Trump — whom she’d once lamented as a symbol of “greed, selfishness and ugly” — had won the presidency.
Related Video: Barbara Bush Gave Up on the Republican Party Before Death
Page claims that while Bush was openly cordial to Donald and Melania Trump — who attended her funeral without her husband — she made little secret of her eagerness to see him leave the White House.
In addition to allegedly blaming Trump for her health issues, the book says that Bush was given a red, white and blue digital clock by a friend which she kept on her nightstand or near her chair until her death at age 92 last spring.
The clock’s purpose: It “displayed how many days, hours, minutes and seconds remained in President Trump’s term,” according to Page.
Needless to say, the juicy revelations have Twitter captivated. Many have wondered if, given his recent attacks on the late John McCain, Trump will lash out at one of his party’s most revered figures.
Trump after hearing Barbara Bush blaming him for her heart attack
pic.twitter.com/PMHGuzDrvU— 𝕸𝖆𝖗𝖐 𝕭𝖞𝖊𝖗𝖘 (@Mark2Frankfurt) March 27, 2019
T minus anytime now before Trump starts attacking Barbara Bush. https://t.co/uLeKjZ3upv
— Jesse Lenderman (@jwlende) March 27, 2019
Can’t wait for Donald Trump to attack Barbara Bush in a tweet from his golf cart. https://t.co/d9c2u2zGGt
— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) March 27, 2019
If Trump attacks Barbara Bush she would be the second dead person he picked a fight with in less than a week.
— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) March 27, 2019
Mrs. Barbara Bush last advice: ( 🙏) pic.twitter.com/NrP34Fenta
— MØ (@MicrObliterate) March 27, 2019
Okay I see you Barbara Bush coming back from the grave just to bash Trump and the Republican Party, and I'm all for it. https://t.co/L2xPmHUEmL
— Tyler Calkins (@TylerCalkins8) March 27, 2019
Journalist Soledad O’Brien, meanwhile, was among those who refused to give the former FLOTUS credit for disowning Trump, citing problematic issues with race within the Bush family. Others agreed with her perspective.
I think it would be unwise to ignore that her husband’s use of race and racism as a dog-whistle helped lay the foundation for Trump’s use of racism as a megaphone. https://t.co/meUqeBigMI
— Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) March 27, 2019
Also, Barbara Bush's comments remind me of Joe Biden pleading helplessness during the Clarence Thomas hearings. They deliberately chose to hedge and remain mostly silent during the 2016 election. Mrs. Bush couldn't even vote for HRC. https://t.co/mwEtvC4H2x
— Stephen Robinson (@SER1897) March 27, 2019
She attacked Katrina victims and referred to her own mixed race grandkids as the "brown ones." Barbara Bush is no hero. https://t.co/b1UN4Nf411
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) March 27, 2019
Trump has yet to address the book’s claims.
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