WASHINGTON (AP) — Not long before she died, Barbara Bush revealed that Donald Trump caused her “angst” during the 2016 election and led her to question whether she was still a Republican.
The late former first lady’s thoughts about Trump are documented in excerpts published Wednesday in USA Today of an upcoming biography, “The Matriarch.”
In a February 2018 interview, Bush was asked if she still considered herself a Republican. She replied, “I’d probably say ‘no’ today.”
She died in April at age 92.
Bush recalls drafting a funny letter to mail after the election congratulating Bill Clinton on becoming a presidential spouse. But Bush said when she woke up, she realized “to my horror that Trump had won.”
A friend gave Bush a clock that counted down the time remaining in Trump’s first term that she kept at her bedside.