Bush 43’s Sobering Warning

Earlier this week, former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. John McCain shared a stage in Philadelphia to give the nation a reminder of days when Democrats and Republicans sometimes worked together and by their example deliver an unmistakable warning about the corrosion of political civility in the age of Donald Trump.

Today it was former President George W. Bush’s turn to sound an alarm. In New York City for a speech at the political studies institute that bears his name, the 43^rd president warned that “bigotry seems emboldened” and “our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication.”

“We have seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty,” Bush added. “At times, it can seem like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together. Argument turns too easily into animosity. Disagreement escalates into dehumanization.”

Like McCain and Biden earlier in the week, Bush did not name names. But his target was clear nonetheless. His remarks are worth watching in their entirety.