George W. Bush On ‘Ellen’: New Interview Shows Americans Embracing Bush

Now that George W. Bush is appearing in interviews with people like Ellen DeGeneres, Americans are finding themselves embracing this former president more and more. While George W. Bush was once disliked by some Americans, many are now considering Bush a good guy, and one that they are willing to listen to, especially on the subject of Donald Trump and politics, as the Washington Post noted.

“A few years ago I would have rolled my eyes at the sight of this man, but six weeks of Trump makes W look like a pretty decent guy. Perspective is a funny thing.”

At one time, nobody could have imagined George W. Bush stopping in for a chat with Ellen, but he recently appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show show and discussed numerous topics with DeGeneres, including Putin, a free press in the United States, and family. The Advocate reports that Bush has been prominent in the news lately while promoting his new book of paintings of veterans he has done called Portraits of Courage.

As George W. Bush has been open lately with how he feels about what is happening in the United States and his thoughts on Donald Trump, Ellen DeGeneres asked him what he thought about America right now. While Bush admitted that Americans were living in a divided nation, he explained that this wasn’t the first time that this has happened and said that he remained optimistic about the future.

“This isn’t the first time our nation’s ever been divided. I remember what it was like when I got out of college. There was the Vietnam War and a draft. There were major race riots. There were political assassinations, the president was nearly impeached, and a lot of people thought the country was going down the tubes. And it turns out we’re too strong to go down the tubes.”

While George W. Bush has recently been very vocal about how the United States needs a free press, he reiterated the point again when he spoke with Ellen.

“The nation needs a free and independent press. Power can be very corrupting and we need a press corps to hold politicians to account, including me. Power doesn’t make you immune to criticism or to corruption investigations.”

Ellen DeGeneres joked with George W. Bush about his poncho struggles: https://t.co/eOdvr1U17Y #TheEllenShow pic.twitter.com/qzyLoiwmoy

— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) March 3, 2017

Bush also discussed religion with Ellen DeGeneres and insisted that he was a proponent of “free religion,” saying that it doesn’t matter who you worship or even if you worship at all. He said that you are an American regardless of your personal beliefs and that this is the foundation that the United States was built on.

With Donald Trump praising Putin, Ellen also asked George W. Bush what he personally thought of the Russian president. As it turns out, Bush is not overly fond of Putin, explaining that Putin “dissed” his favorite dog, Barney, as USA Today reported.

“Putin kind of dissed him. He looked at him like, ‘You think that’s a dog?’ A year later Putin said, ‘Would you like to meet my dog?’ Laura and I were with Putin in this dacha outside of Moscow and she said, ‘Ya I’d like to meet him,’ and out comes a giant hound kind of loping across the yard, and Putin looks at me and says, ‘Bigger, stronger, and faster than Barney.'”

Bush has said that he didn’t have the best of relationships with Putin and said that whoever is president will discover that the Russian president will just keep pushing until he is stood up to, in a remark which may or may not have been aimed at Donald Trump.

Did you watch George W. Bush speaking with Ellen on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and what do you think of the former president now?

[Featured Image by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]