Organizers of Wednesday’s funeral for former President George H.W. Bush want to avoid the type of just-below-the-surface criticism of President Trump that bubbled up during services for Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain in September.
A former Bush administration official told the Washington Post his family reached out to Trump to tell him that he was welcome at the funeral. Trump, by contrast, was not invited to the McCain funeral — at the request of the late senator. Speaker’s at McCain’s funeral included two former presidents, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
[Opinion: George H.W. Bush’s funeral invitation to Trump completes his legacy of noble civility]
Other speakers McCain’s service issued not-so-subtle jabs at the sitting president. Daughter Meghan McCain’s eulogy alluded to “cheap rhetoric” by politicians. She also said “the America of John McCain had no need to be made great again, because America was always great,” referencing Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
Trump had a strained relationship with McCain, especially after the war hero and longtime legislator cast the deciding vote against a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Relations between Trump and members of the Bush family have long been frosty, including campaign trail jabs at former President George W. Bush’s foreign policy decisions, and personal insults against former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a GOP primary rival.
But that will all be set aside during the funeral Wednesday, at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Former Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., who will deliver a eulogy, said a funeral is not the place to air political grievances.
“If you have a sensitivity for human feelings, you just don’t get into that,” Simpson said. “It’s not what a funeral is for.”
The former Bush administration official said the funeral would focus on the late president’s accomplishments rather than his family’s disagreements with the current Oval Office occupant.
Trump will not speak at the funeral, but is slated to sit in the front row near the other living former presidents: Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Obama, and George W. Bush, who will be sit with his family.
The 43rd president will deliver one of four eulogies at his father’s funeral.
