Article content

For the last nine years, George W. Bush has largely stayed out of presidential politics; he declined to criticize his successor, Barack Obama, and he chose not to endorse but largely ignored President Donald Trump. While Mitt Romney and others spoke out publicly against Trump, Bush stayed above the fray.

That changed in a big way Thursday.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or For nine years, ex-president George W. Bush kept silent about his successors. No longer Back to video

Speaking at the George W. Bush Institute in New York, Bush didn’t use Trump’s name, but his target became clearer as the speech progressed.

Here’s a sampling:

Photo by Seth Wenig/AP photo

“Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication.”

“We’ve seen nationalism distorted into nativism.”

“We’ve seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty . . . Argument turns too easily into animosity.”

“It means that bigotry and white supremacy in any form is blasphemy against the American creed, and it means the very identity of our nation depends on passing along civic ideals.”