Story highlights He added that "bigotry seems emboldened"

The 43rd president also addressed Russian influence on the United States

Washington (CNN) Former President George W. Bush condemned bigotry and white supremacy Thursday while endorsing policies that run counter to those supported by President Donald Trump.

"Our identity as a nation, unlike other nations, is not determined by geography or ethnicity, by soil or blood. ... This means that people from every race, religion, ethnicity can be full and equally American," he said during remarks at the George W. Bush Institute in New York City. "It means that bigotry and white supremacy, in any form, is blasphemy against the American creed."

He added that "bigotry seems emboldened," though he didn't explain why.

"We've seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty," Bush said, adding, "Too often, we judge other groups by their worst examples while judging ourselves by our best intentions, forgetting the image of God we should see in each other."

Bush didn't mention Trump during his remarks but did criticize the "governing class." In his recommendations to strengthen American democracy, he said US institutions must "step up" and "we need to recall and recover our own identity."

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