'Bigotry is emboldened': George Bush delivers thinly veiled rebuke of Donald Trump

Former president George Bush has delivered a rare speech in which he slammed the current political landscape in America – without mentioning Donald Trump.

The comments, delivered at a New York City conference on Thursday, were seen as a thinly veiled critique from a man who has remained largely silent during the Trump era.

Mr Bush said: “We've seen nationalism distorted into nativism, forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America.

"We see a fading confidence in the value of free markets and international trade, forgetting that conflict, instability and poverty follow in the wake of protectionism.

"We've seen the return of isolation sentiments, forgetting that American security is directly threatened by the chaos and despair of distant places."

"We've seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty," he continued.

"Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication."

"We need to recall and recover our own identity," he continued.

"To renew our country, we only need to remember our values."

Asked about the speech, Mr Trump said he had not seen it.