Former President George W. Bush had a one sentence verdict on Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, according to a report from New York Magazine, citing three separate sources.
“That was some weird shit,” Bush said after leaving the ceremony on Capitol Hill, where Trump blasted the political establishment.
“For too long, a small group in our nation’s Capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost,” Trump said during his speech. “The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country.”
Bush attended the ceremony with his wife Laura Bush as well as former president Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn, and former president Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Clinton.
But Trump thundered against the political elites in the audience, asserting that they had failed the American people.
“[T]oday we are not merely transferring power from one Administration to another, or from one party to another – but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the American People,” Trump said.
Trump also blasted past leadership for building and strengthening other countries at the expense of the American people. One of the lines of Trump’s speech alluded to Bush’s legacy of acting in the Middle East.
“We’ve defended other nation’s borders while refusing to defend our own; and spent trillions of dollars overseas while America’s infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay,” he said.
He also criticized trade deals by both Bush and Clinton.
“We’ve made other countries rich while the wealth, strength, and confidence of our country has disappeared over the horizon,” he said. “One by one, the factories shuttered and left our shores, with not even a thought about the millions upon millions of American workers left behind.”
A Bush spokesman declined to comment on the report.