In a wide ranging interview on Today with Matt Lauer, former President George W. Bush said he favored a “welcoming” immigration policy and said the mainstream media is “indispensable to democracy.”
Bush, who remained quiet throughout the Obama administration, has now broken his silence about what he really thinks about Trump’s controversial, conservative policies and executive orders.
When Bush was asked about the temporary travel “ban,” Bush responded cautiously: “I am for an immigration policy that’s welcoming and upholds the law.”
He added, “I think it’s very important for all of us to recognize that one of our great strengths is for people to be able to worship the way they want to, or not worship at all. A bedrock of our freedom is the right to worship freely. People who murder the innocent are not religious people. They want to advance an ideology.”
Then, Bush compared the travel restrictions to a sign of weakness that Islamic terrorists would exploit: “It’s very hard to fight the war on terrorism if we’re in retreat,” Bush answered. “I think we learned that lesson — that if the United States decides to pull out before a free society emerges, it’s going to be hard to defeat them. The enemy is very good about exploiting weakness. If that’s the goal, to defeat ISIS, I believe that we should project strength.”
But, former President Bush wasn’t finished! He then compared Trump’s relationship with the mainstream media to that of Vladimir Putin, while bemoaning alternative news outlets which have greatly reduced the importance of networks such as NBC, ABC, and CNN.
This is outrageous:
Bush was asked about the media’s role in light of President Donald Trump’s recent characterization of the media as “enemies of America.” He noted he spent a lot of time during his two terms trying to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to embrace an independent press.
“It’s kind of hard to tell others to have an independent free press when we’re not willing to have one ourselves,” he said.
Clearly, Bush didn’t watch President Trump’s speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Trump’s full quote was, “I called the fake news the enemy of the people and they are.”
Trump is referring to the fake, liberal media which distorts facts and relies on biased sources that are misreading highly classified intelligence information in ways to hurt his administration. In no way was Trump referring to the entire news media, and Trump restated his support for the First Amendment, reminding the CPAC audience that no one uses free speech rights more than he.
Watch the interview (below). Isn’t it hilarious to see the liberal media now treat Bush so politely, now that he’s useful in attacking President Trump?
What do you think of Bush’s comments about Trump? Please leave us a comment (below) and tell us.
