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Melania Trump is a world-class snubber. She skipped almost every event of Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, only returning to regular political spouse duties late last year, as she had a memoir to plug and a lucrative documentary project to film. Despite suggesting she would be a full-time First Lady in Trump’s second term, she has gone unseen for weeks at a time and even skipped her stepdaughter Tiffany’s baby shower (a People source explained, savagely, that Melania “has her own schedule, even on weekends” and didn’t see “any reason” to attend).
Now Melania is getting a small taste of her own medicine: Former president George W. Bush is skipping an event she is hosting at the White House on Thursday even though it’s about his late mother. Melania is presiding over the unveiling of a postage stamp honoring former First Lady Barbara Bush, wife of former president George H.W. Bush. On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that W. doesn’t plan to be there and didn’t even offer a plausible excuse:
Former president George W. Bush is not expected to attend a Thursday event at the White House honoring his late mother, two White House officials familiar with the plans told The Washington Post.
… Other Bush family members and friends are expected to attend, Trump’s office said. Attendees include Doro Bush Koch, George W. Bush’s younger sister who is listed as one of several featured speakers at the unveiling, and Alice Yates, chief executive of the George and Barbara Bush Foundation. A spokesperson for Bush did not respond to a request for comment.
The bad blood between the Bushes and the Trumps goes back years and involves even Barbara herself. During the 2016 GOP primary, one of Trump’s many brutal attacks against Jeb involved sharing a clip of his mother, Barbara, saying he shouldn’t run as “we’ve had enough Bushes” (she later reversed course and endorsed her son). The Trumps released a polite statement after Barbara died in 2018, but they did not attend her funeral. The following year, the biography The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty claimed that Barbara blamed Trump for her heart attack and once referred to him as a “symbol of greed.”
Nevertheless, George W. Bush’s Trump snubs have always been subtle (especially compared to his pal Michelle Obama, who recently confirmed that she skipped the 2025 presidential inauguration and Jimmy Carter’s funeral because she didn’t want to see Trump). W. didn’t endorse Trump during his three presidential runs — but he didn’t break party ranks to back his opponent, either. W. and his wife, Laura, attended both Trump inaugurations, though they found ways to quietly register their lack of enthusiasm for the new president. After Trump’s 2017 inauguration, Bush was heard remarking, “That was some weird shit.” This year, the Bushes left Trump’s indoor inauguration as quickly as possible, skipping the celebratory luncheon.
It seems pretty clear that this week’s snub is about the Bush family’s relationship with Donald Trump, not Melania. But in a way, that makes it even worse for the current First Lady. Why does Melania have to take time away from her busy schedule of scrapbooking and doing whatever she does in Palm Beach when Barbara Bush’s own son can’t find “any reason” to attend this stamp unveiling?
