Former US presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush have used speeches at separate events to voice their concerns about the current state of politics in the US.
Obama, who was on the campaign trail for a fellow Democrat for the first time since leaving office, urged Americans to “reject the politics of division and fear”, while Bush took aim at “bullying and prejudice” in public life, claiming that politics had fallen prey to “conspiracy theories” and “outright fabrication”, reports CNN.
Despite neither of the former commanders-in-chief mentioning Trump by name, the comments were seen as an indictment of the current president’s time in office.
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CNN adds that with the comments, both Bush and Obama were “breaking the code of silence that retired commanders-in-chief normally maintain about their successors”, but that Trump would likely “not feel a thing” due to his habit of dismissing dissenting opinions.
The comments were met with mixed reactions. Evan McMullin, a former CIA operations officer and independent candidate at last year’s election, told Twitter followers he was encouraged by the speeches.
Others used Twitter to express their agreement with the comments, deriding Trump’s controversial leadership.
There was also a realisation among some Twitter users that Bush had never once used his platform to criticise Obama’s presidency, with some suggesting it indicates how controversial the Trump administration is:
Others saw it as hypocrisy:
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