Bush Flogs Book He Probably Didn’t Write, Talks Down Trump With Lauer
from The Daily Bell:
President Bush Defends the ‘Indispensable’ Media in Rare Interview: ‘Power Can Be Very Addictive’ … Former president George W. Bush took a few thinly veiled shots at President Donald Trump during an interview with NBC’s “Today” show. The Republican ex-president appeared on Monday’s program to promote his upcoming book, “Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief’s Tribute to America’s Warriors,” and anchor Matt Lauer asked if he agreed with Trump that the media was an “enemy of the people.” – Mediaite
Former President George W. Bush is making the media rounds selling a book he has just written about top veterans who have impressed him and supposedly had a personal impact on him.He was on NBC’s Today show talking about the book. Under Lauer’s questioning, he talked about Trump as well.
Bush was obviously torn. He wanted to say some not so nice things about Trump – who had eviscerated his brother – but presidential decorum spoke against it. He did make some comments however.
More:
“I consider the media to be indispensable to democracy,” Bush said. “We need an independent media to hold people like me to account. Power can be very addictive and it can be corrosive, and it’s important for the media to call to account people who abuse their power.”
Bush said he tried to convince Russian president Vladimir Putin of the importance of an independent press, and he said American credibility was crucial in fostering democracy elsewhere.
“It’s kind of hard to tell others to have an independent free press when we’re not willing to have one ourselves,” Bush said.
He also said Trump needed more time before he might make specific criticisms about the new president. At the same time, he said he believed in an immigration policy that was “lawful” but “welcoming.”
Toward the end of his presidency, Bush actually went a great deal beyond friendliness. He tried to pass legislation that would normalize the status of million of Mexicans in this country, and basically put them on a fast track to citizenship.
