The 41st president of the United States, George H.W. Bush, passed away on Friday, November 30. In the wake of his passing, President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump released a statement expressing their sorrow at his death.
The statement, which posted to Trump’s official Twitter , said the following.
“Melania and I join with a grieving Nation to mourn the loss of former president George H.W. Bush, who passed away last night.”
The statement goes on in a decidedly un-Trump-like manner, and Twitter quickly picked up on it. The official White House statement called Bush a leader of “sound judgment, common sense, and unflappable leadership” who managed to continue setting the bar higher.
Bush “guided our nation, and the world, to a peaceful and victorious conclusion of the Cold War. As president, he set the stage for the decades of prosperity that have followed,” Trump said.
Within moments, Twitter exploded in response to Trump’s official words honoring the former president. One commenter called it exactly how she saw it.
“Glad to see someone else is writing for you. Also, resign,” she said.
Another follower pointed out what seems obvious to people reading the eloquent and heartfelt words.
“This wasn’t written by Trump himself. It was most probably written by an intern because Trump has always hated the Bush family since the early days….. Trump wasn’t invited to Barbara’s funeral so he won’t be invited to George seniors funeral… RIP George.”
https://twitter.com/noUpside/status/1068747854171189248
Other users of the popular social media platform took the time to call Trump out on the abuse he heaped upon the elder Bush in denigrating Bush’s “a thousand points of light.”
Some people, however, were happy to see something eloquent coming out of the White House. One person summed it up.
“Authenticity? Disarming? Unwavering? Pinnacle? Unflappable? Yeah, no. He didn’t write it. Way too many multisyllabic words for our grade school President. Still, glad someone had the sense to guide him in this,” they wrote.
Another said that despite her political disagreements she never once doubted that Bush was a good man who loved his country, which is something she couldn’t say about the 45th president of the United States.
Ultimately, Twitter users pointed out that the statement said very little about Trump, himself, which means there’s no way that he penned the message himself.
Of course, plenty of supporters pushed back and told people to put aside partisan politics for long enough to properly respect Bush at this time.
“It’s a sad time when people can not put their disgust for someone aside long enough to pay respect to the loss of a Great American,” wrote one.
