On Tuesday, NBC’s Today show eagerly promoted a new biography of Barbara Bush in which the late First Lady “blames Trump for her heart attack.” In addition to seizing on that absurd notion, the morning show went on to ghoulishly tout how Bush kept “a Trump countdown clock marking the days remaining in his term...at her bedside until the day she died.”
“Barbara Bush unfiltered. The new insider account that claims the former First Lady blames Trump for her heart attack,” co-host Savannah Guthrie proclaimed at the top of the broadcast. In the report that followed in the 7:30 a.m. ET half hour, correspondent Andrea Mitchell gushed: “This morning, the former First Lady in the last months of life revealing to her biographer, USA Today’s Susan Page, her strong dislike for Donald Trump. So fierce, Mrs. Bush, suffering from congestive heart disease, blamed Trump for what she called a heart attack...”
The headline on screen reinforced the outlandish claim: “Barbara Bush Unfiltered; New Book: Former First Lady Blamed Trump for Heart Attack.”
Mitchell hyped how “Then-candidate Trump famously mocking Jeb Bush and belittling him during the primaries” leading up to the 2016 election allegedly contributed to Bush’s health problems.
Eager to keep using the deceased First Lady as a cudgel against Trump, the reporter then listed several other revelations in the new book, titled The Matriarch, in which Bush attacked the President:
According to the book, her dislike for Trump went back decades. In her diaries from the 1990s, which she made available for the book, Bush describes Trump as, quote, “greedy, selfish and ugly.” By 2016, the book reveals Mrs. Bush was, quote, “Dismayed by the nation's divisions and by the direction of the party she had worked for, and for so long,” telling Page in one interview, “I don’t understand why people are for him.” And in another, she expressed astonishment that women could support him.
Mrs. Bush confiding to Page she no longer considered herself a Republican. In fact, when the Bushes went to vote that November, she wrote in her son Jeb’s name and her husband voted for Hillary Clinton, the first time in his life he had voted for a Democrat.
Despite Bush not understanding why women supported Trump, Mitchell noted that she was apparently giddy at the prospect of Bill Clinton returning to the White House as a presidential spouse: “Mrs. Bush had even earlier written a congratulatory letter to Bill Clinton, assuming Hillary would win, and joking, ‘Welcome to the First Ladies club, we can’t wait to initiate you.’ But she of course never mailed that.”
Wrapping up her report, Mitchell added this morbid detail: “According to The Matriarch, Mrs. Bush never got over her distaste for President Trump. A friend even gave her a Trump countdown clock marking the days remaining in his term, a clock that she kept at her bedside until the day she died.”
Co-host Craig Melvin enthused that the book “sounds like quite the fascinating read” while Guthrie marveled over “A lot of bombshells in that book by Susan Page.”
It doesn’t take much for the media to jump on criticism of Trump, but using the words of a recently deceased former First Lady to do it is truly a new low.
Here is a full transcript of Mitchell’s March 27 report:
7:42 AM ET
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: This morning on In-Depth Today, a former first lady unfiltered.
CRAIG MELVIN: Barbara Bush known to be outspoken. Well, now, there’s a new book filled with more of her candid thoughts that are now just coming to light. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell has the details. Hey, Andrea.
ANDREA MITCHELL: Hey, good morning, guys. It’s a new biography of Barbara Bush, entitled The Matriarch, and offering rare insights into the wife of the 41st president and the mother of the 43rd, reminding us that she was never afraid to speak her mind.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Barbara Bush Unfiltered; New Book: Former First Lady Blamed Trump for Heart Attack]
MITCHELL: This morning, the former First Lady in the last months of life revealing to her biographer, USA Today’s Susan Page, her strong dislike for Donald Trump. So fierce, Mrs. Bush, suffering from congestive heart disease, blamed Trump for what she called a heart attack, after comments like this about her son Jeb.
DONALD TRUMP: Bush is 1% in Nevada. This guy, why doesn’t he just give up, just go home? Go home. Go home to mom.
MITCHELL: Then-candidate Trump famously mocking Jeb Bush and belittling him during the primaries.
TRUMP: Like Bush, this guy Bush, he’s like low-energy.
MITCHELL: Mrs. Bush said she was originally hesitant for Jeb to enter the 2016 race, feelings she shared on Today in 2013.
BARBARA BUSH: There are other people out there that are very qualified and we’ve had enough Bushes.
MITCHELL: But she said she was so alarmed by Trump, she eventually agreed Jeb should run and campaigned for him in New Hampshire.
BUSH: He’s decent and honest. He’s everything we need in a president.
MITCHELL: According to the book, her dislike for Trump went back decades. In her diaries from the 1990s, which she made available for the book, Bush describes Trump as, quote, “greedy, selfish and ugly.” By 2016, the book reveals Mrs. Bush was, quote, “Dismayed by the nation's divisions and by the direction of the party she had worked for, and for so long,” telling Page in one interview, “I don’t understand why people are for him.” And in another, she expressed astonishment that women could support him.
Mrs. Bush confiding to Page she no longer considered herself a Republican. In fact, when the Bushes went to vote that November, she wrote in her son Jeb’s name and her husband voted for Hillary Clinton, the first time in his life he had voted for a Democrat.
But despite Mrs. Bush’s harsh feelings for Donald Trump, according to the book, the former First Lady wrote Melania trump, welcoming her to the First Ladies’ very exclusive club. In fact, Mrs. Bush had even earlier written a congratulatory letter to Bill Clinton, assuming Hillary would win, and joking, “Welcome to the First Ladies club, we can’t wait to initiate you.” But she of course never mailed that.
According to The Matriarch, Mrs. Bush never got over her distaste for President Trump. A friend even gave her a Trump countdown clock marking the days remaining in his term, a clock that she kept at her bedside until the day she died. Craig and Savannah?
MELVIN: Andrea Mitchell for us there in Washington. It sounds like quite the fascinating read.
MITCHELL: It is.
GUTHRIE: A lot of bombshells in that book by Susan Page. Thank you, Andrea.
