Barbara Bush—one of the most recognizable faces of the GOP for decades—made the stunning admission before her death that she no longer considered herself to be a Republican. USA Today reports that when Bush was asked if she thought of herself as a Republican in February 2018, two months before she died, she said: “I’d probably say no today.” The answer is reported in a new book, The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty, by author Susan Page. The book also claims that Bush blamed Donald Trump for a “heart attack” in June 2016 after his ridicule of son Jeb Bush had angered her. Bush also revealed to Page that she had drafted a funny congratulatory letter to send to Bill Clinton ahead of election night in 2016, assuming that it would be him taking over the role of presidential spouse rather than Melania Trump. “It said, ‘Welcome to the First Ladies Club,’” she told the author. “‘We can’t wait to initiate you.’” However, the letter was never mailed. Describing her reaction on the morning after the election, she said: “I woke up and discovered, to my horror, that Trump had won.”
