In New York, Bush delivered a strong indictment of Trump's populist nationalism, condemning trade protectionism and bemoaning how politics had fallen prey to "conspiracy theories" and "outright fabrication." There's no doubt that Obama and Bush have been dismayed by some of Trump's antics in office. The political impact of the Bush and Obama criticism of Trump is likely to be limited. In fact, for Trump's supporters, and perhaps for the president himself, the reappearances of Obama and Bush on Thursday may have seemed less of a rebuke than validation. The critique by Bush and Obama also obscured the inadvertent contribution both men had made to the rise of Trump.

Source: CNN October 20, 2017 05:15 UTC