George W. Bush condemns the Republican Party as ‘isolationist, protectionist’ and ‘nativist’ and says it’s scaring people about immigration

• Former President George W. Bush called his own political party "isolationist, protectionist, and to a certain extent nativist" during a "Today" interview.
• Bush is calling for immigration reform that he broadly describes as "border enforcement with a compassionate touch."
• "It's an easy issue to frighten some of the electorate and I'm trying to have a different voice," Bush said.
• See more stories on Insider's business page.

Former President George W. Bush called his own political party "isolationist, protectionist, and to a certain extent nativist" during a "Today" interview on Tuesday.

"It's a beautiful country we have and yet it's not beautiful when we condemn and call people names and scare people about immigration," he said. "It's an easy issue to frighten some of the electorate and I'm trying to have a different voice."

Bush, who is coming out with a new book of his paintings, "Out of Many, One: Portraits of America's Immigrants," joked that his opinion is somewhat irrelevant.

"It's not exactly my vision, but I'm just an old guy they put out to pasture, a simple painter," he said.

During an interview with CBS News' Norah O'Donnell that aired Sunday, Bush said that failing to pass immigration reform during his two terms in office was one of the biggest disappointments of his presidency.

Bush said he wants "border enforcement with a compassionate touch," and that he isn't "pro-immigration" because that involves "open borders."

He called for a stronger asylum process with more judges and courts to handle asylees' claims and reform of the visa system to allow more workers in to fill "empty" American jobs. Bush also argued there's a shortage of "manpower" on the border to handle the steep rise in migrants, particularly children, who've crossed the US-Mexico border in recent months.

Bush didn't support former President Donald Trump's reelection, but didn't make any public statement before the election. He has said the Jan. 6 Capitol siege made him "sick" and on Tuesday he lamented the pervasiveness of political misinformation online.