Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who once called George W. Bush “the worst president we’ve ever had,” suggested he’d had a change of heart since the election of Donald Trump.
“In hindsight, I wish every day for a George Bush again,” Reid told CNN’s Dana Bash in an interview that aired Monday. “I think that he and I had our differences, but no one ever questioned his patriotism. Our battles were strictly political battles.”
The statement stunned Bash, who recalled Reid’s famously contentious relationship with the 43rd president. Reid called him a “liar” and a “loser” and once even fat-shamed his dog.
Still, Reid maintained his impression of Bush had changed.
“There’s no question in my mind that George Bush would be Babe Ruth in this league that he’s in,” he said. “Donald Trump wouldn’t make the team.”
Reid also used “the worst president we’ve ever have” phrase to describe Trump in January.
Reid said he couldn’t name a single positive accomplishment of Trump’s.
“I just have trouble accepting him as a person,” he said. “So frankly, I don’t see anything he’s doing right.”
Reid, 79, left his role as a Nevada senator in 2017 and was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2018. He told Bash his cancer has since gone into remission.
Reid hasn’t yet endorsed a candidate for 2020, but he has expressed admiration for Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), whom he once recommended for a Supreme Court seat, and former Vice President Joe Biden.