Former President George W. Bush reportedly remarked that President Donald Trump’s administration makes his time in the White House “look pretty good,” according to a Republican source.
“Bush is often heard to remark, unable to stifle his trademark smirk: ‘Sorta makes me look pretty good, doesn’t it?'” the source told National Journal.
The Trump administration told the outlet that the former Republican president regularly criticizes Trump’s administration for being in a state of chaos.
“He’s shaking his head like everyone else wondering why they can’t get their act together,” the source added. “He wants the guy to succeed but thinks a lot of his problems are self-inflicted.”
The younger Bush has a history of criticizing Trump in public. In an October speech at the George W. Bush Institute, he slammed the president’s nationalist ideology, all while arguing that globalism and foreign intervention is key for the U.S. to succeed in the future.
“We’ve seen nationalism distorted into nativism, and forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America,” he said.
Bush’s father, former President George H.W. Bush, has been less subtle about his dislike for Trump. The elder Bush bashed Trump in a book released in November, attacking the current president’s leadership style and character.
“I don’t like him,” George H.W. Bush said in the book. “I don’t know much about him, but I know he’s a blowhard. And I’m not too excited about him being a leader.”
The 41st president told the New York Times in November that he cast a vote for 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton instead of Trump in the 2016 election and that his son did not vote for either candidate.