In recent decades the former presidents and First Ladies have made a big show of their post-White House chumminess. In 2005, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush teamed up to raise money for victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami; in 2009, all five living presidents had a lunch date; and in 2016, Michelle Obama hugged George W. Bush, to name just a few of their demonstrations of bipartisan goodwill. Then Donald Trump became president and ruined everything.
The Ex-Presidents Club wasn't totally controversy free prior to Trump. (Plenty of people didn't find Mobama rehabilitating W.'s image adorable.) But Trump's presidency was so divisive, and his attacks on his predecessors were so rampant and vicious, that he now overshadows every event that calls for a gathering of former U.S. leaders.
Trump didn't do anything inappropriate at the service, aside from leaving some X users with the impression that she didn't wear black to the funeral (she was wearing a black-and-white patterned coat that appeared light in some photos). And the Carter family said Rosalynn was involved in the decision to invite her. "My mother was a gracious person and she would treat everybody with respect, including a former First Lady," her son, Chip Carter, told the Washington Post.
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