https://www.yahoo.com/celebrity/george-w-bush-breaks-silence-030023705.html
George W. Bush Breaks His Silence on the Direction of the Country Under President Trump: ‘I Don’t Like the Racism and Name-Calling’
Sandra Sobieraj Westfall
PeopleFebruary 27, 2017
But one rocky month into Trump’s tenure, it’s harder to keep quiet.
“I don’t like the racism and I don’t like the name-calling and I don’t like the people feeling alienated,” Bush, 70, tells PEOPLE in an interview for the new issue of the magazine on newsstands Friday.
“Nobody likes that.”
Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief’s Tribute to America’s Warriors.[/a] The collection of portraits of the wounded warriors of America’s war on terror aims to raise awareness and funds for the post-9/11 veterans’ health care and employment programs of the George W. Bush Presidential Center.
“Of course, we’ve been to very many inaugurals,” Laura added.
“It’s our sixth one,” said her husband.
Bush called the political climate in Trump’s Washington “pretty ugly” (“I’m not going back nowhere!” he added for emphasis), but said he isn’t feeling anxious about the direction of the country. “Not really. I’m optimistic about where we’ll end up. … We’ve been through these periods before and we’ve always had a way to come out of it. I’m more optimistic than some.”
Asked if he felt compelled to play a leadership role in these divisive times, Bush went on:
“No. When President Obama got elected, friends would call: ‘You must speak out! You must do this, you must do that.’ Turns out, other people are doing the same thing this time. I didn’t feel like speaking out before because I didn’t want to complicate the job and I’m not going to this time. However, at the Bush Center we are speaking up.”
The couple list some of the center’s work that stands in contrast to Trump’s isolationism: immigration ceremonies, women’s reproductive-health programs in Africa, and leadership training for Muslim women that the Bush Center brings to Texas from the Middle East. Asked if Trump’s determination to restrict immigration and travel from Muslim countries threatens the Bush Center programs, he shrugs. “Now that you mention it, it might bother me but we’ll figure out how to bring them over.”
“There’s a lot of ways to speak out,” the former president says, “but it’s really through actions defending the values important to Laura and me. … We’re a blessed nation, and we ought to help others.”
RELATED VIDEO: Click HERE to watch People Features: George W. Bush, Portraits of Courage
“It doesn’t hurt my feelings. I understand the nature of the job,” Bush says. “There’s a lot incoming when you’re the president and you just got to focus on your job.”
George W. Bush Breaks His Silence on the Direction of the Country Under President Trump: ‘I Don’t Like the Racism and Name-Calling’
Sandra Sobieraj Westfall
PeopleFebruary 27, 2017
But one rocky month into Trump’s tenure, it’s harder to keep quiet.
“I don’t like the racism and I don’t like the name-calling and I don’t like the people feeling alienated,” Bush, 70, tells PEOPLE in an interview for the new issue of the magazine on newsstands Friday.
“Nobody likes that.”
Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief’s Tribute to America’s Warriors.[/a] The collection of portraits of the wounded warriors of America’s war on terror aims to raise awareness and funds for the post-9/11 veterans’ health care and employment programs of the George W. Bush Presidential Center.
“Of course, we’ve been to very many inaugurals,” Laura added.
“It’s our sixth one,” said her husband.
Bush called the political climate in Trump’s Washington “pretty ugly” (“I’m not going back nowhere!” he added for emphasis), but said he isn’t feeling anxious about the direction of the country. “Not really. I’m optimistic about where we’ll end up. … We’ve been through these periods before and we’ve always had a way to come out of it. I’m more optimistic than some.”
Asked if he felt compelled to play a leadership role in these divisive times, Bush went on:
“No. When President Obama got elected, friends would call: ‘You must speak out! You must do this, you must do that.’ Turns out, other people are doing the same thing this time. I didn’t feel like speaking out before because I didn’t want to complicate the job and I’m not going to this time. However, at the Bush Center we are speaking up.”
The couple list some of the center’s work that stands in contrast to Trump’s isolationism: immigration ceremonies, women’s reproductive-health programs in Africa, and leadership training for Muslim women that the Bush Center brings to Texas from the Middle East. Asked if Trump’s determination to restrict immigration and travel from Muslim countries threatens the Bush Center programs, he shrugs. “Now that you mention it, it might bother me but we’ll figure out how to bring them over.”
“There’s a lot of ways to speak out,” the former president says, “but it’s really through actions defending the values important to Laura and me. … We’re a blessed nation, and we ought to help others.”
RELATED VIDEO: Click HERE to watch People Features: George W. Bush, Portraits of Courage
“It doesn’t hurt my feelings. I understand the nature of the job,” Bush says. “There’s a lot incoming when you’re the president and you just got to focus on your job.”
