President Donald Trump and President George W. Bush, it’s clear, have never been friends. Trump’s political rise in 2015 was positioned largely as a rebuke of the Bush presidency, especially as Trump was running against the former president’s brother Jeb. In the years since, George W. Bush has never endorsed Trump for president or spoken at any Republican convention, while occasionally making statements that sound like shots at Trump.
That happened again on Monday, when Bush sent a President’s Day message that has been interpreted as a shot at Trump.
According to The Daily Beast, Bush published an essay on a Substack called In Pursuit, which was meant mostly as praise of the first president, George Washington.
W on GW. I’ll admit I was never a fan of President Bush the Younger, but well done, Mr. President. Well done, sir.
inpursuit.substack.com/p/George-was…— Rick Herrera (@herreramilhist.bsky.social) February 16, 2026 at 12:34 PM
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“Few qualities have inspired me more than Washington’s humility. I have studied the corrupting nature of power, and how retaining power for power’s sake has infected politics for generations,” the essay says. “Our first president could have remained all-powerful, but twice he chose not to. In so doing, he set a standard for all presidents to live up to. His life, with all its flaws and achievements, should be studied by all who aspire to leadership. George Washington’s humility in giving up power willingly remains among the most consequential decisions and important examples in American politics.”
Often, in the Trump era, generalized appeals to honor, selflessness, courage and humility are interpreted as shots at Trump. This was also the interpretation of nearly every eulogy at John McCain’s funeral in 2018, including the one Bush delivered.
“Our first president could have remained all-powerful, but twice he chose not to,” Bush added. “In doing so, he set a standard for all presidents to live up to.” Washington’s decision to step away from the presidency after two terms is often recognized by historians as an important moment in early American history, and was even the basis for a musical number in Hamilton. But in this moment, it sounds a lot like Bush referencing Trump’s occasional gestures towards trying to secure a third term.
“I often say that the office of the president is more important than the occupant; that the institution of the presidency gives ballast to our ship of state,” Bush concludes. “For that stability we are indebted to the wisdom of our founding fathers’ governing charter and the humility of our nation’s first president. It has guided us for 250 years, and it will strengthen us for our next 250 years.”
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
