WASHINGTON -- The last two Republican presidents -- George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush -- issued an implicit rebuke of the current president Wednesday, as party elders scramble to limit the fallout from Donald Trump's stance on neo-Nazis."America must always reject racial bigotry, anti-Semitism, and hatred in all forms," read the statement issued by Bush aides from Kennebunkport, Maine, site of the Bush family compound.The Bushes have largely kept on the sidelines during the Trump presidency. The younger Bush, a Dallas resident, has maintained a strict policy of resisting the urge to inject himself into contemporary politics, deeming that unfair to the current national leader -- whether that was Trump or, before him, Barack Obama.But amid the uproar over Trump's warmth toward neo-Nazis and white supremacists, the Bushes apparently could not hold their tongues any longer. Their full statement read:"America must always reject racial bigotry, anti-Semitism, and hatred in all forms. As we pray for Charlottesville, we are reminded of the fundamental truths recorded by that city's most prominent citizen in the Declaration of Independence: we are all created equal and endowed by our Creator with unalienable rights. We know these truths to be everlasting because we have seen the decency and greatness of our country."While the statement didn't mention Trump, their message was clearly aimed at distancing themselves and the Republican Party from the president's comments about the violence Saturday in Virginia, where a Nazi sympathizer rammed a car into a crowd of anti-fascist demonstrators, killing one woman and injuring 20 other people.The neo-Nazis and white supremacists chanted anti-Semitic slogans and waved swastika flags. Trump insisted Tuesday that there were "very fine people" on that side of the clashes. Continue reading...
From Presidents Bush and Bush, Rebuke of Trump's neo-Nazi Stance
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