Democratic columnist Jonathan Harris said on Thursday that President Trump should not have attended former President George H.W. Bush’s funeral, calling the move “disgusting.”
“I think the fact that he came was wrong,” Harris told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti on “Rising.” “I don’t think that he should have come.”
“When he was asked not to come at other funerals, I think it was respectable that he didn’t go,” he continued, referring to former first lady Barbara Bush and Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) funerals, which Trump was not invited to.
The Bush family did invite Trump and first lady Melania Trump to Wednesday’s state funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington.
“I know he was [invited], I’m just saying that I think it would have been better if he didn’t because he was an elephant in the room. It was a distraction,” Harris said. “If you’re going to be that vile and disrespectful toward people, his own son, why would you come? It’s disgusting.”
The president and first lady were seated next to former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama, along with former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, who Trump defeated in the 2016 presidential election.
Trump has publicly criticized members of the Bush family, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R).
— Julia Manchester
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.