Trump Did Not Like Bush's Call for Unity

On Saturday, former president George W. Bush called on America to drop partisan politics in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. By Sunday, the current president had responded. The New York Times notes that Bush did not refer to President Trump in his video calling for unity, but Trump appears to have taken it personally. "Oh bye the way, I appreciate the message from former President Bush, but where was he during Impeachment calling for putting partisanship aside," Trump tweeted in what Business Insider explains was a paraphrase of a comment made by Pete Hegseth on Fox and Friends. Trump then added, "He was nowhere to be found in speaking up against the greatest Hoax in American history!" Asked to comment, a Bush rep said only that the video was meant to unite, and that hopefully people "will resist the temptation to use it as a call to divide."

Within hours, Trump had also attacked another former president. "Evidence has surfaced that indicates Barack Obama was the one running the Russian hoax," read a tweet from a pro-Trump website that the president himself then retweeted. Also Sunday, Trump tweeted, "Intelligence has just reported to me that I was correct, and that they did NOT bring up the CoronaVirus subject matter until late into January, just prior to my banning China from the U.S. Also, they only spoke of the Virus in a very non-threatening, or matter of fact, manner. ... Fake News got it wrong again, as always." During his Fox News town hall Sunday, Trump said he wasn't warned about the virus until a Jan. 23 intelligence briefing, but that officials talked about it "very matter of factly. It was not a big deal." On Jan. 30, he blocked entry by most foreign nationals arriving from China. (More George W. Bush stories.)