Iframe

Since leaving office, George W. Bush has refrained from commenting on politics almost entirely. But this morning he gave a speech that’s a very clear repudiation of the awful Trump presidency and the toxic ideologies Trump has injected into the bloodstream of conservatism.

Many of us have serious issues with Bush and the way he governed, but this is a very welcome development — because in order to remove Donald Trump from the office he’s so clearly unfit to occupy, we need support from all sides of US politics.

Speaking at a George W. Bush Institute event in New York, Bush didn’t use Trump’s name, but his target became clearer as the speech progressed. Here’s a sampling:

• “Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication.”
• “We’ve seen nationalism distorted into nativism.”
• “We’ve seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty. . . . Argument turns too easily into animosity.”
• “It means that bigotry and white supremacy in any form is blasphemy against the American creed, and it means the very identity of our nation depends on passing along civic ideals.”
• “Bullying and prejudice in our public life … provides permission for cruelty and bigotry.”
• “The only way to pass along civic values is to live up to them.”