Precisely 20 years in the past this month, President George W. Bush landed in Rome to pay his respects to a deceased pope, John Paul II. He was the primary sitting president to attend a papal funeral. However he was not alone: He had requested his predecessor, Invoice Clinton, to trip alongside on Air Pressure One, together with Mr. Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush.
Collectively, the three presidents sped to St. Peter’s Basilica. Kneeling, they prayed side-by-side earlier than the pope’s physique. It was a exceptional show of American bipartisan unity, the form of kinship amongst political rivals that feels unimaginable at the moment. And issues performed out in another way when President Trump landed in Rome on Friday evening to attend Francis’ funeral.
He was accompanied by his spouse, Melania, and a clutch of senior aides. However his predecessor, former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his spouse, Jill, flew in on their very own.
Contemplating that Mr. Trump had recently stripped Mr. Biden of his security clearances, and commonly denounces him, it’s comprehensible that they didn’t share a trip to Rome. When former President Jimmy Carter died in December, Mr. Trump stated he had handed away “a contented man” within the data that “he wasn’t the worst. President Joe Biden was.”
Mr. Biden has usually talked about his Roman Catholic upbringing. He noticed Pope Francis briefly at a summit assembly in Italy final June, weeks earlier than the disastrous debate with Mr. Trump that led to his resolution to drop out of the presidential race. Mr. Biden had talked about returning to Rome to get the pope’s blessing simply earlier than leaving the White Home, however canceled the journey due to the Los Angeles wildfires in January.
Requested on Air Pressure One on the flight to Rome on Friday night whether or not he deliberate to speak with Mr. Biden on the funeral, Mr. Trump sounded stunned that his predecessor was attending. “It’s not excessive on my listing,” he stated. “It’s actually not.”
The distinction with the 2005 papal funeral was stark. Mr. Bush was keen to make sure that Mr. Clinton was a part of the total presidential social gathering. Not solely did the 2 males attend the funeral collectively, the previous president sat in on the extremely categorised presidential every day temporary on the flight over.
However the joined-at-the-hip act ended within the night. Mr. Bush went to sleep early, across the time Mr. Clinton was simply heading out. One evening throughout the go to, Mr. Clinton was eating in a non-public room at a small, extremely rated Italian restaurant when he realized that lots of the White Home reporters who had lined him as president had been consuming at an enormous desk in the principle eating room.
Naturally, he referred to as us in to affix him for dessert and espresso, and informed tales till the early hours of the morning.
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