Former Republican US president George W Bush diverged sharply from Trump’s new administration on Monday, saying he supported a welcoming immigration policy and praising the media as “indispensable to democracy”.
In a wide-ranging interview with NBC’s Today show, meanwhile, the former president was asked if he had seen signs that Trump was trying to close the rift in the US electorate after his divisive campaign against Hillary Clinton. He acknowledged that his own presidency from 2001 to 2009 also began after a contentious election but that it was “hard to compare times”.
Bush said that Trump was still in the early stage of his presidency and that Americans have “got to take the man at his word”.
Asked whether he supported Trump’s travel ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries, Bush said: “I am for an immigration policy that is welcoming and that upholds the law.”
Bush, whose presidency was shaped by the September 11 terror attacks, also called for religious tolerance. “One of our great strengths is for people to be able to worship the way they want to or not worship at all,” he said.
After the attacks, Bush made a point of supporting Muslims and praising Islam’s teachings as peaceful.
Regarding the press, Trump has branded some news outlets as “the enemy of the people”. Bush said: “I consider the media to be indispensable to democracy, that we need an independent media to hold people like me to account.
“It’s important for the media to call to account people who abuse their power.”
Bush also said he did not know if a special prosecutor was needed to investigate contacts between Trump associates and Russia but added: “We all need answers.”
He also said that during his presidency he tried to persuade the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to accept the concept of an independent news media.
“It’s kind of hard to tell others to have an independent, free press and we’re not willing to have one ourselves,” Bush said.
