Bush chides the GOP for being the party of 'white Anglo-Saxon protestantism'

Former President George W. Bush suggested the Republican Party needed to reach out to a more diverse coalition of voters if it wanted to come back into power.  

‘If you Republican Party stands for exclusivity – you know, it used to be country clubs, now evidently it’s white Anglo-Saxon Protestantism – then it’s not going to win anything,’ Bush said in an interview with The Dispatch podcast last week.     

Bush has been promoting his new book of paintings, ‘Out of Many, One,’ which showcases immigrant stories – his own way to push back on the anti-immigrant rhetoric of former President Donald Trump’s administration. 

Former President George W. Bush said in an interview Thursday that the GOP’ is ‘not going to win anything’ if it’s only the party of ‘white Anglo-Saxon Protestantism’ 

‘My whole point on all this immigration debate and stuff is, I think if we valued life as precious and every life matters, that we’re all God’s children, that all of a sudden the tone of the debate might be a little better,’ Bush told hosts Sarah Isgur, a GOP former Department of Justice spokeswoman, and Steve Hayes, the ex-editor-in-chief of The Weekly Standard, on Thursday. 

‘I mean, I was discouraged when I saw some of the language associated with immigrants and wanted to present a different side,’ he said later in the interview. 

Isgur asked Bush about a recent initiative from far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to form a House ‘America First’ caucus that’s in favor of ‘Anglo-Saxon political traditions,’ with respect to immigration.

Isgur asked if the GOP followed that path for the next three to five years if Bush would still be a member of the party.  

‘No I’d say there’s not going to be a party,’ Bush replied. ‘You know, to me that basically says that we want to be extinct,’ the former president continues, as Hayes suggested there were more Republicans who espoused those beliefs now than when Bush was the head of the party. 

Bush said he remained ‘proudly’ to be a Republican and was hopeful that the GOP could take power again. 

‘I think Republicans will have a second chance to govern, because I believe that the Biden administration is a uniting factor, and particularly on the fiscal side of things. So, you know, we’ll see,’ the ex-president said, expressing particular concern about inflation.   

But he then delivered his WASP warning. 

In the same interview, Bush predicted the best way to get something done on immigration was to break up a bill into pieces. 

He said he both blamed Senate Democratic leadership and himself for not getting a comprehensive immigration bill through Congress in 2006. 

‘In 2006, if I could lay blame, it’d be to the Democratic leadership of the Senate for refusing to allow a bill to go forward without the amendment process,’ Bush said. ‘Now, the reason I say it’s a regret is because it’s my fault. I tried to reform Social Security before reforming immigration,’ the Republican continued. 

Bush also assigned more blame to people smuggling migrants across the border than to the Biden administration for the current crisis. 

‘I think the change of administrations enabled the coyotes and the propagandists and the exploiters to say, “Alright, now we can get you in,”‘ Bush said. 

Bush also told the podcast that he agreed with the thrice guilty verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial. 

‘The Floyd verdict causes me to give the grade, you know, A. Because I think the trial was fair and justice was served,’ Bush said.