Former President George H.W. Bush reportedly used a newspaper to hide from Donald Trump at an airport in the early 90s.
Bush was just out of office when he stumbled upon Trump at an airport in the 1990s, New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman recounted in an anecdote that didn’t make it in her new book.
TRUMP WANTED TO SWAP MAR-A-LAGO DOCUMENTS FOR RUSSIA INVESTIGATION FILES: REPORT
“H. W. Bush — newly out of office maybe a year or two, is at JFK Airport. He’s getting ready to go to a speech overseas. And he’s reading a newspaper, possibly a newspaper I work for. And someone comes over to him and says, ‘Excuse me, Mr. President, Donald Trump is here, and he’s wondering if you’d like to meet him,'” Haberman recalled.
“Bush pulls the paper down and says ‘no,’ and then goes back to it. And thus began a decadeslong warmth toward the Bushes,” she quipped. “That’s why he hates the Bushes. So that’s [the] one.”
Haberman explained during a promotional event that the anecdote didn’t make it into her new book, Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America, because she didn’t have sufficient confirmation.
WATCH: Maggie Haberman Cracks Up Packed Book Event With Trump Story She Left Out of Her Book https://t.co/8t9SODzoqJ via @mediaite pic.twitter.com/RmaHhdbmgy
— Tommy moderna-vaX-Topher (@tommyxtopher) October 9, 2022
The story was previously reported in Mark Updegrove’s The Last Republicans, though that book placed the brush-up at Boston’s Logan International Airport instead of John F. Kennedy International Airport, the Daily Mail reported.
Trump’s rapport with the GOP presidential family dynasty has long been fraught with animosity and tension. Trump directed hefty ire at Bush’s younger son, Jeb Bush, during the 2016 presidential campaign, calling him “low energy” and a slew of other nicknames.
“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,” Bush was quoted as saying about Trump, per CNN.
Trump has frequently panned Bush’s other son, George W. Bush, for leading the United States into wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. At a rally over the weekend, Trump continued his belittlement of the Bushes.
“George H. W. Bush took millions of documents to a former bowling alley and a former Chinese restaurant where they combined them. So they’re in a bowling alley-slash-Chinese restaurant,” Trump claimed at a rally.
Trump made those remarks while seeking to downplay his legal tangling over classified documents he had stored at Mar-a-Lago. Jeb Bush quickly shot down that claim. Fact-checkers denied the claims as well.
“I am so confused. My dad enjoyed a good Chinese meal and enjoyed the challenge of 7 10 split. What the heck is up with you,” he tweeted.
I am so confused. My dad enjoyed a good Chinese meal and enjoyed the challenge of 7 10 split. What the heck is up with you? https://t.co/LT1jET2kor
— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) October 10, 2022
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Meanwhile, George W. Bush, who has largely refrained from the political spotlight since departing the White House, has reportedly been stumping for candidates who have demonstrated a propensity for bucking Trump, such as Colorado Senate hopeful Joe O’Dea.
For all the hard feelings and strain between Trump and the Bush family, George H.W. Bush ensured that Trump would get an invite to his funeral — an olive branch that other Republican families such as the McCain family declined to extend to Trump.
