This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

George W Bush sharply condemned bigotry, conspiracy theories and lies in American politics on Thursday, in what seemed to be a coded attack on the presidency of Donald Trump.

Without mentioning Trump by name, the former US president urged Americans to reject white supremacy and embrace globalization in a speech organized by the institute that bears his name in New York.

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“Bigotry seems emboldened,” said Bush, who has seen controversy over his 2001-09 presidency among liberals and abroad eclipsed by the outrage surrounding Trump. “Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication.”

He added: “Bigotry in any form is blasphemy against the American creed and it means the very identity of our nation depends on the passing of civic ideals to the next generation. We need a renewed emphasis on civic learning in schools.”

Bush took shots at the “governing class” while hinting at aspects of Trump’s presidency.

“Our young people need positive role models,” he said. “Bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone, provides permission for cruelty and bigotry, and compromises the moral education of children.”

Although Bush has largely stayed out of politics since leaving office, his family’s disdain for Trump is well documented.

While campaigning for his brother Jeb in the 2016 Republican primary, the former president took similarly veiled swipes at Trump. He and his father, the former president George HW Bush, skipped the Republican national convention where Trump was formally nominated last July, and declined to vote for Trump in the November election.

Bush did, however, attend Trump’s inauguration and reportedly told those around him of the latter’s speech: “That was some weird shit.”

It is nonetheless rare for former US presidents to publicly rebuke their successors in the White House. Trump has been the rare sitting president to draw routine criticism, even if subtle, from those who sat in the Oval Office before him.

During his remarks on Thursday, Bush also condemned Russian interference in the US election, saying such foreign attacks “should never be downplayed or tolerated”, in what could be interpreted as another knock on Trump. The president has pointedly refused to accept the conclusion of the US intelligence agency that the Russians meddled in the 2016 election against the backdrop of the investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

Bush’s comments came as Barack Obama was poised to make his return to the political stage on Thursday evening at a campaign rally in Richmond, Virginia, for the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Ralph Northam.

Although Obama has issued a number of statements condemning Trump’s actions since leaving office in January, he has avoided mentioning his successor by name. The former president has nonetheless spoken out on a handful of major issues, such as the travel ban and Republican efforts to repeal and replace his healthcare law, as well as Trump’s decisions to withdraw from the Paris climate accord and rescind Daca, the Obama-era program to protect young, undocumented immigrants.

Bush characterized the current era as a “unique moment” that threatened the pillars of US democracy.

“We need to recall and recover our own identity,” he said. “Americans have a great advantage. To renew our country, we only need to remember our values.”