Following the death of evangelist Billy Graham in February 2018, Trump released a presidential proclamation ordering flags to be raised at half-staff on the day of his burial, in addition to a long statement lamenting his loss. Trump also spoke at a ceremony on Capitol Hill, where Graham was to lie in honor, and traveled to North Carolina a few days later for funeral services.
On Twitter, Trump lamented that “there was no one like” Graham, and said on Capitol Hill that the evangelist’s work had “changed … the entire world.”
But when John McCain, who foiled Trump’s attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and was a blatant critic of the President, died a few months later, the President was embroiled in controversy when it came to honoring the former republican standard-bearer and war. hero.
After tweeting a lukewarm 21-word condolence message, Trump was criticized when the White House flag was raised from medium to full staff two days later, as is the policy under the United States flag code by the time it was becomes a member of Congress dies in office, in the absence of a presidential proclamation.
The White House later bowed to the protest, issuing a proclamation on behalf of Trump in which he acknowledged his strained relationship with the senator.
“Despite our differences in politics and politics, I respect Senator John McCain’s service to our country and, in his honor, I have signed a proclamation to raise the flag of the United States at half-staff until the day of his burial.” said. in the statement
And while Trump was asked to stay away from McCain’s funeral, McCain’s daughter Meghan later revealed that she wished President Ivanka Trump’s daughter and her husband Jared Kushner had not attended; former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush delivered praise on the Service. Trump has continued his attacks on McCain in the years after his death, complaining last year that despite giving his approval to the late senator’s arrangements, “I received no thanks.”
In February 2019, it seemed that Trump had cast aside any partisan spirit by honoring the death of John Dingell, the Michigan Democrat who before retiring in 2014 became the most veteran congressman in United States history, despite some of Dingell’s last words that implicitly hit the president.
In a heartfelt tweet, Trump expressed his “deepest condolences to Congresswoman Debbie Dingell and the entire John Dingell family,” adding that Dingell’s long political career says that “if people understand politics, it means he was very smart. ” A great reputation and a highly respected man. “
Although Trump was not among the dignitaries who attended Dingell’s funeral, Rep. Debbie Dingell was appreciative of the President after her husband’s death.
The detente lasted until last December, when Trump spoke at a bustling campaign rally in Michigan the night Dingell and the rest of the House voted to remove him.
“Debbie Dingell, she’s a real beauty,” Trump told a crowd in Battle Creek, causing boos. “So she calls me like eight months ago. Her husband was there a long time, but I did not give him treatment B. I did not give him the C or D. he might have. No one would ask, you know, give the A-plus treatment. Shoot down the flags. Why are you taking them to former Congressman Dingell? Oh ok, do this, do that, do that roundabout, everything.
Trump continued, stating that “I gave them everything. It’s okay. I don’t want anything for that. I don’t need anything at all. “He then relayed a phone call to the congresswoman in which he expressed his gratitude, suggesting that John Dingell was” looking up “rather than looking down and implying that he should have considered Trump’s attendance for your impeachment vote.
The comments sparked a bipartisan reprimand, as Dingell called them an instinctive blow.
Despite Trump’s habit of stealing attention while the political world is in mourning, he is not the first president to see his record of attendance at memorial services politicized.
Obama was furious in early 2016 when he decided to skip the funeral of Supreme Court Judge Antonin Scalia, the conservative jurist whose unexpected death at the start of an election year opened a political gap over who should choose his replacement. Although Obama ordered flags to be raised at half-staff until the burial of justice and attended a Supreme Court hearing, he was accused of pushing partisanship at a time when animosity between the parties seemed to have peaked. .
A few months later, Obama was similarly criticized when he skipped the funeral of former First Lady Nancy Reagan, even though acting presidents rarely attended such funerals, and instead attended the South by Southwest music festival. in Texas, where he was already scheduled to speak.
Still, Trump has managed to stay civil to honor other high-profile deaths during his presidency, including Lewis’.
Trump marked Rep. Elijah Cummings’ death with a heartfelt tweet, despite sparking a firestorm months earlier when he denigrated the Baltimore-based Cummings district as a “rat and rodent infested disaster” and appeared to mock the news. that Cummings “The Maryland home had been burglarized.
Following Cummings’ death in October, Trump wrote in a tweet that “I was able to see firsthand the strength, passion, and wisdom of this highly respected political leader,” and predicted that “his work and his voice on many fronts will be very difficult, if not impossible, replace! “
Although he did not attend the Cummings memorial, Trump paid tribute to the legislator during a criminal justice forum the same day, recalling his passion for cutting prescription drug costs at an Oval Office meeting once.
