President Trump ordered government flags to half-staff Saturday and declared a national day of mourning for former President George H.W. Bush, eulogizing Bush with allusions to a speech he recently mocked.
“It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of one of America’s greatest points of light, the death of President George H.W. Bush,” Trump said, alluding to Bush’s famous “Thousand Points of Light” speech, which Trump belittled as recently as July.
Trump, in Argentina for the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, canceled an afternoon press conference, citing a desire to respect Bush’s memory. The 94-year-old former president died Friday.
Although he had an at-times turbulent relationship with the Bush family, Trump remembered Bush glowingly in his proclamation acknowledging Bush’s death, saying he “led a great American life,” recounting his presidential accomplishments and less-known younger life.
But the presidential proclamation’s embrace of Bush’s “thousand points of light” phrase immediately attracted attention, as it has been a punching bag for Trump, who described it as poor branding for the GOP.
“Putting America first, we understand. Thousand points of light? I never quite got that one. I’d say, what the hell is that? Has anyone ever figured that out? And it was put out by a Republican, wasn’t it?” Trump jeered at a campaign event earlier this year.
Bush used the term during his 1988 speech at the Republican National Convention, extolling America’s diverse array of non-governmental organizations, working autonomously for the public good.
Trump also referred to Bush’s speech directly in his proclamation, which declared Wednesday a national day of mourning.
“Even with all he accomplished in service to our Nation, President Bush remained humble,” the statement said. “He never believed that government — even when under his own leadership — could be the source of our Nation’s strength or its greatness. America, he rightly told us, is illuminated by ‘a thousand points of light,’ ‘ethnic, religious, social, business, labor union, neighborhood, regional and other organizations, all of them varied, voluntary and unique’ in which Americans serve Americans to build and maintain the greatest Nation on the face of the Earth. President Bush recognized that these communities of people are the true source of America’s strength and vitality.”
In 1988, Bush won 40 states to become president, soundly defeating Democrat Michael Dukakis, then governor of Massachusetts. He lost re-election in 1992 to Bill Clinton in a three-way race with billionaire Ross Perot.
Trump described Bush’s long trajectory toward the presidency, writing in the proclamation: “On the day he turned 18, 6 months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, George H.W. Bush volunteered for combat duty in the Second World War. The youngest aviator in United States naval history at the time, he flew 58 combat missions, including one in which, after taking enemy fire, he parachuted from his burning plane into the Pacific Ocean.”
“After the war, he returned home and started a business. In his words, ‘the big thing’ he learned from this endeavor was “the satisfaction of creating jobs,'” the proclamation said.
Bush’s subsequent public-sector resume resulted in him being called one of the best-qualified presidents in regard to understanding government functions. He served as a member of Congress, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, chief of the U.S. liaison office in China, director of the CIA, and vice president under then-President Ronald Reagan.
“Bush guided our Nation through the Cold War, to its peaceful and victorious end, and into the decades of prosperity that have followed,” Trump’s proclamation said. “Through sound judgment, practical wisdom, and steady leadership, President Bush made safer the second half of a tumultuous and dangerous century.”
