On Wednesday, all the living former presidents and former first ladies attended the funeral of George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States. The guests also included President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, which made for a pretty awkward photo: The tweeter-in-chief sitting in a row full of people he's frequently mocked and insulted.
Trump called Barack Obama the "founder of Isis," tried to repeal his popular health care plan, accused him, without evidence, of illegal wiretapping during the 2016 campaign, and spread idiotic conspiracy theories that he wasn't born in the United States. In her new book, Michelle Obama says she'll "never forgive Trump" for promoting those rumors, which riled up America's dumbest and craziest citizens, who could have brought harm to her family. Despite their ugly history, the Trumps and Obamas shook hands at H.W.'s funeral, a sign of civility.
However, Trump did not shake hands with the Clintons, nor did they appear to make eye contact. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by three million ballots, but lost the presidency to Trump, because of America's zany electoral college, which gives voters in sparsely populated states more power than voters in densely populated states. During the campaign, Trump slammed Hillary for using a private email account, calling her "corrupt" and leading crowds in feverish chants of "lock her up!"
The FBI investigated Hillary and concluded she had been "extremely careless," but there was not enough evidence to charge her with a crime. Yet Trump continues to insist she should be jailed. (Hilariously, his daughter, Ivanka, just got busted using a private email account for work. Apparently, that was totally cool, though!)
The Bushes haven't escaped Donald's wrath, either. At a rally, Trump mocked George H.W. Bush's famous "thousand points of light" speech, asking "What the hell is that? Has anyone ever figured that one out?" During the 2016 campaign, he slammed Jeb Bush as "low energy," and blamed his brother, George W. Bush for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Seriously.
"The World Trade Center came down during your brother’s reign. Remember that," Trump said to Jeb during a debate. "The World Trade Center came down because Bill Clinton [didn't] kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him. And George Bush-- by the way, George Bush had the chance, also, and he didn't listen to the advice of his C.I.A."
And what about Jimmy Carter, the 39th President, who's still going at 94 years old? In 2013, Trump tweeted, "Former President Jimmy Carter is so happy that he is no longer considered the worst President in the history of the United States!" Based on the timestamp, he's implying that the "worst president" is Barack Obama, who rescued the country from the Great Recession, ordered the capture and killing of Osama Bin Laden, and signed the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare"), providing health care to 20 million uninsured Americans. What a failure!
So, you can see why the photo of Trump and all the living ex-presidents looks pretty awkward. One Twitter user noticed that the Obamas and Clintons were laughing about something before the Trumps entered. (It's a shame there wasn't a hot mic to pick up their conversation! Maybe they were discussing that time Trump walked up the steps to Air Force One with toilet paper stuck to his shoe?) Then, once Donald and Melania walked in, the whole mood seemed to change.
But it wasn't a total cringe-fest. George W. Bush appeared to pass some candy to Michelle Obama, a callback to their tender moment at Senator John McCain's funeral. McCain's family invited former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama to eulogize him, and requested that President Trump not attend the service. I bet some guests were relieved.
