Former President George W. Bush will not attend a White House ceremony hosted by First Lady Melania Trump on Thursday, May 7, to honor his late mother, Barbara Bush, with a commemorative U.S. Postal Service stamp. The event, set to take place in the East Room, marks a rare moment of political and personal tension between two former first families.
According to The Washington Post, two unnamed officials confirmed that Bush declined the invitation. While no official reason was provided, the decision has sparked speculation, given the complex history between the Bush and Trump families.
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Despite his absence, the Bush family will be represented. Dorothy Bush Koch, the former president’s sister, is scheduled as one of the featured speakers at the event. Alice Yates, CEO of the George and Barbara Bush Foundation, will also be in attendance.
Although George W. Bush attended both of Donald Trump’s presidential inaugurations, he never endorsed Trump during any of his campaigns. Tensions between the two political dynasties have simmered for years, often playing out in public statements and political memoirs.
In a 2021 speech commemorating the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Bush criticized the tone of modern politics, saying, “So much of our politics has become a naked appeal to anger, fear, and resentment.” Trump later took offense, interpreting the remark as a veiled attack. He responded by calling Bush’s presidency “failed and uninspiring,” and said the former president “shouldn’t be lecturing anybody!”
Further friction can be traced to the late Barbara Bush herself. In the 2019 biography The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of a Dynasty, she described Donald Trump as “a symbol of greed.” The book also revealed that in the final months of her life, Barbara no longer considered herself a Republican, despite her longstanding affiliation with the party.
Trump, for his part, had no reservations about addressing the feud. Speaking of Jeb Bush, his former 2016 primary rival and Barbara’s son, he once said, “I have heard that she was nasty to me, but she should be. Look what I did to her sons.”
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Meanwhile, behind the scenes, First Lady Melania Trump is reportedly working on a full-scale reinvention. According to Daily Mail, she has assembled a discreet but high-powered team that includes Hollywood director Brett Ratner, who is producing a documentary about her for Amazon Prime.
Fashion designer Herve Pierre, her longtime stylist since 2017, continues to curate her wardrobe, while architect Tham Kannalikham and other confidantes like Marc Beckman and Ines Knauss round out what insiders are calling a “secret team” guiding her transformation.
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