Jenna Bush Hager addresses Trump 'snub' after interviewing living presidents
Jenna Bush Hager interviewed former presidents, including her father George W. Bush, for a segment on the Today Show, but Donald Trump was noticeably absent from the line-up
View 3 Images Jenna Bush Hager interviewed four former presidents
Jenna Bush Hager addressed Donald Trump's absence from the Today Show on April 21 as she sat down with four former presidents, including her own father, George W. Bush.
The 44-year-old presenter interviewed her dad, as well as Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton, in honor of the country's upcoming 250th birthday. The presidential interviews took place in Philadelphia during History Talks, an event hosted by The History Channel.
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The historic interview segment drew backlash on social media after viewers felt that Donald Trump was 'snubbed' from participating. The First Daughter-turned-television personality seemed to get ahead of critics during a segment about the historic interviews on Today's Jenna & Sheinelle.
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Snippets from sit-down conversations with the former presidents aired exclusively on Today, including several clips from Jenna's conversation with her 79-year-old father, who served two consecutive terms as president from 2001 to 2009.
After the segment, Jenna took a moment to clarify, "The HistoryTalks event traditionally features former presidents discussing their legacies' history." She added, seemingly getting ahead of the criticism, "We should also note that President Trump is also working with the History Channel on an America 250 project, which they will announce more on later this Spring."
View 3 Images Jenna interviewed her father, George W. Bush
After the historic interviews were announced, viewers took to social media to express disappointment that Trump did not participate, citing that he is technically a former president as well.
"Why wasn't President Trump included? He's a living former president too and currently serving again," one person fumed on X. "Feels like a pretty glaring omission for a 'message to America' on the 250th anniversary."
Another wrote, "why aren’t you including our current President? What kind of biased b-----t is this? This is an intentional snub and disrespectful to the millions of people who voted for him." While Trump is technically a former president, he was not interviewed about his legacy ahead of the 250th anniversary of the United States because he is currently a sitting president.
View 3 Images Bush was president from 2001 to 2009
When asked to deliver a message to the American people, Jenna's dad said, “My message is: ‘Consider yourself fortunate to be a part of a great nation."
The former president continued, “Study our history so you have a better sense for what the future will be like. And be a citizen, not a spectator. And by that I mean participate in the process, but also love a neighbor like you’d like to be loved yourself.”
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After clips from the interviews aired, Jenna said the experience "made me feel better about the state of our country." Jenna and her twin sister, Barbara, were just 19 years old when their father became President of the United States, following in the footsteps of his father, George H.W. Bush.
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