It’s not news that the media will take any opportunity to attack President Donald Trump. You would think there would be some sort of decorum in times of mourning but unfortunately that is just not the case anymore.
A CNN reporter while watching Trump pay his respects to late President George H.W. Bush on Monday suggested that the president was only doing so “because he feels he has to.”
“I think he’s doing this because he feels he has to do it,” said CNN special correspondent Jamie Gangel during a panel discussion on “Anderson Cooper 360.” “I do know from the Bush family that they are very appreciative and think the White House … has been extraordinarily helpful. That said, I can’t help but wonder if there was a thought bubble over Donald Trump’s head just now, what he was thinking as he stood there.”
Another panelist, SMU Center for Presidential History Director Jeffrey Engel, chimed in ever-so eloquently, “I have to imagine he was thinking, ‘How much longer do I have to stand here?’”
Gangel went on to say that she essentially looks forward to Bush 41’s state funeral service on Wednesday just to see how Trump “interacts with these other presidents and how he sits there during these eulogies.”
She even said she thinks “it is going to be fascinating to watch.”
“I think it’s interesting he did it because maybe he could have waited until the National Cathedral and then he saluted,” she said, criticizing Trump for saluting Bush’s casket lying in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. “It was somewhat theatrical in nature. But I can’t imagine that this is very comfortable… and I think it is going to be fascinating to watch the Cathedral on Wednesday and how he interacts with these other presidents and how he sits there during these eulogies.”
If you thought that couldn’t get worse, panelist Engel later added that no one should praise Trump for paying his respects to Bush in the wake of his passing, saying, “we shouldn’t give someone credit for not kicking dirt on the grave of a person who just passed away.”
Former President George H.W. Bush’s casket arrived at the Capitol on Monday and will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda until Wednesday, Dec. 5, as MRCTV reported.
Bush will be honored with a state funeral on Wednesday. President Trump and First Lady Melania will be attending the service at Washington National Cathedral, the White House confirmed, despite speculation from the media that he would not be invited.
Trump issued the following statement Monday, praising Bush 41 for leading “a life that exemplified what is truly great about America”:
President George H.W. Bush led a life that exemplified what is truly great about America. As with so many of his generation, the Greatest Generation, President Bush worked selflessly throughout his long life to bring about a world of justice and lasting peace. With his passing, we mark one of the last pages of a defining chapter in American history.
He proclaimed Wednesday a national day of mourning and issued an executive order closing the federal government in honor of the 41st president.