Barbara Bush and George H.W. Bush in 2015. (Getty)
George H.W. Bush displayed his sense of humor in a letter sent to Donald Trump‘s team on January 18, explaining why the 41st president will not be able to attend the inauguration of the 45th. The 92-year-old Bush joked that his doctors told him that if he went to Washington D.C. in January, “it likely will put me six feet in the ground.”
Bush is back in a Houston hospital after complaining of shortness of breath on January 14. A family spokesman told KHOU that he is “responding very well” to treatment. Bush’s office expects him to be home after a couple of days at the Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center.
Bush’s office issued a statement that Bush was moved to the ICU, where he is “stable and resting comfortably” after doctors performed a procedure.
George H.W. Bush is now in ICU; Barbara Bush also hospitalized
Bush will not be able to attend the inauguration in Washington D.C. In the letter, Bush said that his doctors advised him against sitting outside in the cold. Here’s the letter, which Bush signed. The letter was written on January 10. Bush offered to share some insight andd advise for Trump if he ever needs help.
After Trump was elected president, Bush wrote on Twitter, “Barbara and I congratulate @realDonaldTrump, wish him well as he guides America forward as our next President. His family is in our prayers.”
Although his father won’t be there, President George W. Bush will attend the inauguration. However, a spokesman told Politico that Bush and his sons, George W. Bush and Jeb Bush did not vote for Trump. A spokesman for George W. Bush said that the former president didn’t vote for Trump or Hillary Clinton in November.
Bush is the oldest-living former president. He is just five months older than Jimmy Carter, who served as president before Bush. Bush also served as Vice President under Ronald Reagan, Director of the CIA and Ambassador to China under Gerald Ford, and Ambassador to the UN under Richard Nixon.
After Trump suggested during a debate that he wouldn’t accept the election results, Bush’s letter to Bill Clinton after he lost the 1992 presidential election went viral. In that handwritten letter, Bush also offered some advice. “I’m not a very good one to five advice, but just don’t let the critics discourage you or push you off course,” Bush wrote on January 20, 1993.
