Former President George W. Bush was absent from a White House ceremony that honored his late mother, Barbara Bush, wife of former President George H.W. Bush. The event, led by First Lady Melania Trump on May 8 in the East Room, featured the unveiling of a U.S. Postal Service stamp in tribute to the former first lady, who died in 2018 at 92.
Despite Bush’s absence, his sister, Dorothy Bush Koch, was among the featured speakers. Neil Bush, his brother, and Alice Yates, the CEO of the George and Barbara Bush Foundation, were also present at the ceremony.
The former president’s decision not to attend adds another layer to the complex relationship between the Bush family and President Donald Trump. Although Bush was present at Trump’s 2017 and 2025 inaugurations, he refrained from endorsing Trump during his presidential campaigns and kept a political distance during Trump’s presidency. At the 2025 inauguration, Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush departed prior to the luncheon.
During Trump’s initial term, Bush expressed his views on the political environment without specifically naming Trump. At a 2021 event marking the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Bush commented that “so much of our politics has become a naked appeal to anger, fear, and resentment.”
Trump seemed to take those remarks personally, stating that Bush “led a failed and uninspiring presidency” and “shouldn’t be lecturing anybody!” This interaction underscored the ongoing friction between the two Republican leaders, who have maintained a polite yet distant rapport.
This instance of Bush distancing himself from the White House follows years of complicated interactions between the Bush and Trump families. During the 2016 Republican primary, Trump had a notable rivalry with Jeb Bush, George W. Bush’s brother, labeling him “low energy Jeb.”
The tension between the families even reaches back to Barbara Bush. In Susan Page’s 2019 biography “The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of a Dynasty,” Barbara Bush described Trump as “a symbol of greed” in a 1990s diary entry. The book also noted that before her passing, she no longer identified as a Republican, despite being a prominent figure in the party for decades.
When questioned about Barbara Bush’s criticism, Trump remarked, “I have heard that she was nasty to me, but she should be. Look what I did to her sons,” according to Trump’s comments to the Washington Times, referencing his political conflicts with Jeb and George W. Bush.
The commemorative stamp for Barbara Bush joins a series featuring other former first ladies. The most recent addition to this collection was Nancy Reagan’s stamp, released in 2022.
The ceremony on Thursday marked one of Melania Trump’s significant appearances as First Lady during her husband’s second term. In 2018, she attended Barbara Bush’s funeral in Houston, Texas, representing the Trump administration alongside other presidential family representatives.
The Bush family has historically maintained friendly relations with other presidential families across party lines. George W. Bush has been seen engaging amicably with former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama at various events, most recently at former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral earlier this year.
Despite Trump’s critical remarks about the Bush administration’s policies, particularly concerning Iraq and Afghanistan, the two families have managed to maintain a degree of civility during official occasions.
