(CNN)Former President George H.W. Bush has a blunt assessment of Donald Trump: “He’s a blowhard.” And his son, former President George W. Bush, has harsh words for his Republican successor as well: “This guy doesn’t know what it means to be president.”
Those stinging comments mark the first time the former presidents are speaking out about Trump in such stark terms, as part of a new book about the father and son by historian Mark Updegrove, titled “The Last Republicans.”
Both men went on the record to give Updegrove their candid assessment of Trump, as well as rare insight into their thoughts on the 2016 presidential race as the drama unfolded.
The most critical comments about Trump came from the elder Bush, now 93, who told Updegrove in May 2016, “I don’t like him. I don’t know much about him, but I know he’s a blowhard. And I’m not too excited about him being a leader.”
The author went on to ask George H.W. Bush what he thought Trump was seeking in running for president, and the former Navy war hero responded by saying that Trump had “a certain ego.” Though George H.W. Bush told the author he thought Trump could unite the country, he said it would require “humility,” which the former President told Updegrove was a challenge for Trump.
“If you look at the Bush family, it makes perfect sense. Donald Trump is everything that the Bush family is not,” Updegrove told CNN’s Jamie Gangel. “George Bush grew up thinking about the greater good. Donald Trump is manifestly narcissistic. It’s part of his brand. And that brand is the antithesis of the Bush brand.”
George W. Bush echoed his father’s sentiments when he told Updegrove, “As you know from looking at my family, (humility) is a certain heritage. That’s what they expect, and we’re not seeing that (in Trump).”
Updegrove told CNN: “When Donald Trump said, ‘I am my own adviser,’ Bush thought — and this is a quote — ‘Wow, this guy doesn’t know what it means to be president.'”
In the book, Updegrove writes that the younger Bush did not think Trump would win when he first entered the presidential race. “Interesting, won’t last” was the reaction that George W. Bush had in those days, Updegrove writes. And he added that the younger Bush was surprised when Trump emerged as the Republican Party nominee.
“When you’re not out there and you’re not with the people, you don’t get a good sense of (the mood),'” George W. Bush told Updegrove.
CNN has reached out to both former presidents’ offices and they both confirmed that they had spoken with Updegrove on the record, but as a policy do not comment on books.
