The lowest moment of George W. Bush’s presidency may not be the one you’d guess: It was when rapper Kanye West said, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, that Bush “doesn’t care about black people.” When he heard the comment—which he interprets as West calling him “a racist”—“it was one of the most disgusting moments in my presidency,” he tells Matt Lauer in an interview airing Monday.
Lauer notes that in his book, Decision Points, Bush calls the moment the “all-time low,” and he asks Bush if people “might give you some heat for that.” Bush’s response: “Don’t care," adding, "I still feel that way as you read those words. I felt ‘em when I heard ‘em, felt ‘em when I wrote ‘em and I felt ‘em when I’m listening to ‘em.” When Lauer pushes back—"You’re not saying that the worst moment in your presidency was watching the misery in Louisiana. You’re saying it was when someone insulted you because of that"—Bush replied that Katrina’s devastation “affected me deeply as well,” Entertainment Weekly reports. (Click here for more big reveals from the memoir.)