Stelistu Posted December 5, 2018 Posted December 5, 2018 (Bloomberg) -- Official Washington will turn out to honor the late President George H.W. Bush on Wednesday with the full pageantry of a state funeral, bringing President Donald Trump together with his three most recent predecessors for the service at the National Cathedral. The moment will provide a rare public show of respect for the traditions of the capital by a president whose tweets and public statements have shattered the boundaries of political discourse. Trump will sit in the pews as Washington eulogizes a political figure renowned for his scrupulous social etiquette and prolific handwritten thank-you notes. Left unsaid will be the years of criticism and attacks the president has leveled against the Bush family, as well as the Bush family’s at times barely disguised contempt for Trump, whose approach to leadership runs at odds with the “kinder, gentler” conservatism the late president espoused. It will be the first time Trump will be in close proximity to Barack and Michelle Obama or Bill and Hillary Clinton since his inauguration nearly two years ago. He has since issued countless attacks on Twitter and at political rallies attacking both former first couples. Trump wasn’t welcome at the last two occasions that brought former presidents together. Former first lady Barbara Bush, who died earlier this year, made clear she didn’t want the president at her funeral. He also wasn’t invited to the funeral for Republican Senator John McCain, who died in August.
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