Veteran GOP presidential adviser Patrick J. Buchanan says he is not at all surprised at President George H.W. Bush's distaste for Donald Rumsfeld, telling
Newsmax TV the two-time defense secretary was a scrappy brawler who was "battling an awful lot of folks."
In a new biography,
"Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush," author Jon Meacham quotes Bush as saying about Rumsfeld, who served under his son President George W. Bush:
"I don't like what he did, and I think it hurt the President … I've never been that close to him anyway. There's a lack of humility, a lack of seeing what the other guy thinks. He's more kick ass and take names, take numbers. I think he paid a price for that. Rumsfeld was an arrogant fellow."
Buchanan, who served as an adviser to Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford, said Thursday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" he understands Bush's anger.
Watch Newsmax TV on
DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Ch. 223 and
Verizon FiOS Ch. 115. Get Newsmax TV on your cable system —
Click Here Now
"In regard to Don Rumsfeld, I was in and around White Houses, the Nixon White House, Ford and Reagan for over eight years. No, it does not surprise me. Don Rumsfeld is known as a really tough infighter," Buchanan said.
"He was really battling an awful lot of folks as far as back as the Reagan, Ford administrations up through Bush One. I don't think he was in the Bush One administration but Bush Two. So no it doesn't surprise me."
Buchanan said former Vice President Dick Cheney, whom George H.W. Bush also criticized in the book, "basically was the wheel-driving force behind the Iraq War, which I opposed. My guess is Bush One may have opposed that to a degree."
Buchanan is the author of
"The Greatest Comeback: How Richard Nixon Rose from Defeat to Create the New Majority," published by Crown Forum.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.