--- title: Bushes' Biographer Responds to Trump Criticism, Groping description: Former presidents rarely speak out explicitly against sitting presidents but the Bushes' biographer says Trump has changed that canonical: https://time.com/5014076/bush-biographer/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-08T17:13:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:09:11.860Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Bush Biographer: 41 and 43 Are 'Anathema' to Trump og:description: Former presidents rarely speak out against sitting presidents—but the Bushes have og:url: https://time.com/5014076/bush-biographer/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5051f551c70ab849/6988e4ea8fd2ee230d3598b6/updegrove.jpg?branch=production&width=1120&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1120 og:image:height: 630 og:image:alt: updegrove og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bush Biographer: 41 and 43 Are 'Anathema' to Trump twitter:description: Former presidents rarely speak out against sitting presidents—but the Bushes have twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5051f551c70ab849/6988e4ea8fd2ee230d3598b6/updegrove.jpg?branch=production&width=1120&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bush Biographer: 41 and 43 Are 'Anathema' to Trump > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. Readers can join any of them at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=21b08c26-8bff-4f9e-b514-220c328580cc&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### The seven newsletters | Newsletter | Covers | Frequency | | --- | --- | --- | | The Brief | The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors | Daily | | Inside TIME | A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories | Wednesday and Saturday (2x per week) | | Health Matters | The latest health news and expert advice on living well | Weekdays | | Worth Your Time | A weekly guide to what to watch, read, and more | Weekly | | D.C. Brief | Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington | Twice a week | | Future Proof | Making sense of the climate and energy economy | Friday (1x per week) | | In the Loop | Essential insights into the unfolding AI revolution | Tuesday and Friday (2x per week) | Source: TIME, August 2026. ### Key data points | Metric | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Engaged newsletter audience | 1.1 million+ readers | TIME, August 2026 | | Newsletters published | 7 | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost to readers | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | US print circulation | 1 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Global print circulation | 1.15 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Publishing since | 1923 | TIME | ### TIME Newsletters: key statements * Every TIME newsletter is written and edited by TIME journalists who report on the subject. None is generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923. Its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting, so readers can trust what they read. * All seven newsletters are free. Readers pick the ones they want at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=21b08c26-8bff-4f9e-b514-220c328580cc&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). * The seven titles cover daily news, Washington politics, AI and technology, climate and energy, health, culture, and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/subscribe?i=21b08c26-8bff-4f9e-b514-220c328580cc&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What newsletters does TIME publish? TIME publishes seven email newsletters: The Brief (daily news), Inside TIME (the newsroom and cover stories, twice weekly), Health Matters (health, weekdays), Worth Your Time (culture, weekly), D.C. Brief (Washington politics, twice weekly), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=21b08c26-8bff-4f9e-b514-220c328580cc&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Nov 8, 2017 5:13 PM UTC  Harper by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Nov 8, 2017 5:13 PM UTC George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush have found themselves back in the news lately, for better and worse; the former for [allegations of groping](http://time.com/4996794/george-h-w-bush-heather-lind/), the latter for [speaking out](http://time.com/4989764/george-w-bush-bigotry-seems-emboldened-speech-transcript/) against the nationalism that has come to define the Trump era. Now, their explicit disapproval of the 45th president has made its way into a new book by Mark K. Updegrove, [_The Last Republicans_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062654128/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time037-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0062654128&linkId=c95ba28eb5faa4b0afdee701ddba62f9), which quotes H.W. as calling Trump a “blowhard” during the campaign and confirms that he voted for [Hillary Clinton](http://time.com/4501114/george-h-w-bush-hillary-clinton-vote/), while W. voted “none of the above” in the 2016 presidential face-off. TIME spoke with Updegrove about his biography and the legacies of 41 and 43. **TIME: What made you want to write this book?** **Updegrove:** It’s a story that needs to be told. This is the first father-son presidency in nearly 150 years, and it may be the last. And it’s a more significant father-son relationship because there was only eight years between the two presidencies and the elder Bush, Bush 41 was a spry and relatively young 76-year-old when his son took office. You need, for the sake of history, to explore that relationship and how it played out in particular during Bush 42’s presidency. You also want to know the influence that 41 had on 43, and prior to that, how does one future president spawn another? That’s an amazing story that need to be told, and the story can only come from the principals themselves. **You have boldly titled the book** **_The Last Republicans._** **What do you think is the future of the Republican Party?** I think that’s up for the electorate to decide, and the party itself, but it is very clear that there is a battle afoot for the soul of the Republican Party. This certainly is not the party of George H.W. Bush or George W. Bush. **What are their thoughts on the future of conservatism in the U.S.?** I know that in the conversations that I’ve had with George W. Bush, he’s concerned about what he calls the twins of negativity: isolationism and protectionism becoming more of a factor in our daily discourse. I think he is increasingly concerned about that with the election cycle of 2016\. Both Bushes were determined for the United States to be engaged in the world, and ultimately to be what they would both call a force for good. I think that internationally — and they also saw that domestically, they campaigned on platforms based on compassion. George H.W. Bush wanted a kinder, gentler nation; George W. Bush campaigned on a platform of compassionate conservatism. There isn’t a great deal of compassion in the Republican Party today. And the things that the Bushes symbolized and tried to exemplify — humility, civility, decency, the notion of putting service above self — those are anathema to Donald Trump. **Did you expect them to be more forthcoming about Trump both during the election and after?** I was pleased at how candid they were about Trump during the election cycle. But I want to emphasize that the material that I got from them on Trump was just before the election, it wasn’t after, and it would surprise me deeply if either Bush were to speak out about Trump directly after he was president, because they both revere the presidency and wouldn’t want to compromise the dignity of the office, or the president, the sitting president, that’s really an unwritten rule among former presidents, and there are very few instances in which it’s been violated. It wouldn’t surprise me if Trump violated that as a former president. He certainly violated much of the protocol as incumbent president. **But it is unusual that that neither of them voted for their party’s nominee.** It’s quite remarkable that these two former Republican presidents, our last two presidential Republican standard-bearers, did not vote for Donald Trump, and I think that says everything you need to know about their feelings. **How have you felt about being in the** [**news**](https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/04/trump-white-house-george-bush-244552) **for quoting George H.W. Bush as calling Trump a blowhard?** It is a little unusual to have a former president call a sitting president a blowhard, but this is a very unique time and a very unique incumbent president. **And he said that before Trump won, right?** That was in May of 2016. **What surprised you most in your research or conversations for this book?** There are many misconceptions that we have about both of these men. One is that George W. Bush is the prodigal son, and he certainly strayed from the path every now and again and was an irritant to his father at times, but his father ultimately had great faith in George W. Bush. And as George W. Bush put it, ‘I was never the prodigal, because I never left my family.’ And if you look at the Bush family, they’re extremely close and George W. Bush at least figuratively never left his family. The other thing is the notion of Dick Cheney being this Machiavellian puppet master pulling the strings of Bush’s presidency. George W. Bush said very forcefully when talking about the influences of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, “Cheney and Rumsfeld didn’t make one fucking decision.” Another is the \[idea\] that 41 had great consternation about his son’s presidency. I think there was concern at times, but there was a thought that 41, as a former president and as George W. Bush’s father, was at least figuratively taking him to the woodshed on occasion, or implementing policy that he himself would never have done as president. And again, that is not true — George W. Bush asked his father at Camp David whether he should take out Saddam Hussein and nation-build in Iraq, and his father said, ‘If the man doesn’t comply with U.N. resolutions, you don’t have any choice.’ That was the only advice that he sought from his father about Iraq. His father would never have done anything to compromise his son’s presidency. So that was the extent of it. While he might have held reservations about where the war went, privately, they were not something he would have ever thought of expressing publicly, nor would he have taken any action to undermine his son’s presidency. **What do you make of the groping allegations against HW?** It is unfortunate because it’s so uncharacteristic of George H.W. Bush. I’m quite confident you’ll not hear anything about George H.W. Bush doing anything inappropriate to women earlier in his life. But he’s an old man and I think there are a number of things at this stage of his life that he would never have thought of doing at an earlier stage of life. I think it’s probably just a symptom of age. And as offensive as it might have been to those women, I think it was an unintentionally offensive action on the part of the 41st president. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5014076/bush-biographer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5014076/bush-biographer/"},"headline":"Bush Biographer: 41 and 43 Are 'Anathema' to Trump","datePublished":"2017-11-08T17:13:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:09:11.860Z","description":"Former presidents rarely speak out explicitly against sitting presidents. The Bushes' biographer says Trump may violate that unspoken rule.","url":"https://time.com/5014076/bush-biographer/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5051f551c70ab849/6988e4ea8fd2ee230d3598b6/updegrove.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5051f551c70ab849/6988e4ea8fd2ee230d3598b6/updegrove.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"updegrove","caption":"","creditText":"Harper","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5014076/bush-biographer/","name":"Bush Biographer: 41 and 43 Are 'Anathema' to Trump"}}]}] ```