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Trump’s Response to Powell’s Death Lays Bare the Politics of Mourning
Even the death of a widely admired, barrier-breaking leader has been reduced to a political talking point. And Donald Trump has taken it to a new level.

WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 01: The casket is led out following the funeral service for U.S. Sen. John McCain at the National Cathedral on September 1, 2018 in Washington, DC. The late senator died August 25 at the age of 81 after a long battle with brain cancer. McCain will be buried at his final resting place at the U.S. Naval Academy. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
The casket is led out following the funeral service for U.S. Sen. John McCain at the National Cathedral on September 1, 2018 in Washington, DC. The late senator died August 25 at the age of 81 after a long battle with brain cancer.(MARK WILSON/GETTY IMAGES)

After four-star General and former Secretary of State Colin Powell died, emotional tributes poured out from elected officials honoring Powell’s character and longtime service to his country. President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama issued long, personal statements about what Powell had meant to them. Former President George W. Bush and his vice president, Dick Cheney, expressed their deep personal sadness over the loss. And sitting Secretary of State Anthony Blinken delivered formal remarks recalling how kindly Powell had treated career diplomats and what a mentor Powell had been to many.

[ READ: Powell Dies From COVID-19 Complications ]
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There was nothing from the immediate past president, Donald Trump – not even a brief, rote statement of condolence. And on Tuesday morning, Trump unloaded on the recently deceased man, dead at 84 from COVID-19 complications, who had crossed party lines to endorse Trump’s Democratic opponents in 2016 and 2020.

“Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media,” Trump said in a statement. “Hope that happens to me someday. He was a classic RINO [Republican in Name Only], if even that, always being the first to attack other Republicans. He made plenty of mistakes, but anyway, may he rest in peace!”

Republicans aligned with Trump or that wing of the party toed the line, not going so far as to openly insult Powell, but by remaining quiet or putting out brief and impersonal statements of condolence. Only a handful – such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who angered Trump when the Kentucky Republican said Trump was morally responsible for the Jan. 6 insurrection – made more effusive remarks.

This is the new mourning in America, where even the death of a widely admired and barrier-breaking military and diplomatic leader has been reduced to a political talking point. And while the deaths of politicians have been used as partisan platforms before, Trump, experts say, has taken it to a new level.

“Their silence is a measure of their cowardice” in failing to praise Powell along with Democrats and Republicans who are not Trump-aligned, says Mac Stipanovich, a veteran Republican political strategist in Florida who now considers himself an independent.

[ READ: Virginia Election Provides Early Test of a Potential Trump Return ]
“They are so afraid of his MAGA myrmidons that they would rather pass up the opportunity to laud a man of the stature of Colin Powell, who richly deserves their praise, particularly in the Republican Party, than run any risk on incurring the disappointment – not even the wrath – of Donald Trump,” Stipanovich adds.

A few of Trump’s supporters in Congress – such as Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas – tweeted out short messages of condolence. Rep. Matt Gaetz, Florida Republican, in a since-deleted tweet, sniped that “Post-vaccine breakthrough infection kills more people than Iraq’s WMD’s ever did.” That was apparently a reference to Powell’s argument before the U.N. that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction – weapons that were never found.

Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican who denounced Trump during the 2016 campaign but has since embraced him, has been quiet (his office did not return a query about whether Rubio would make a public statement on Powell’s death).

“Rubio is coming up for re-election. He needs Trump,” observed Larry Jacobs, head of the political science department at the University of Minnesota.

Conservative writer Bill Kristol, who has been highly critical of Trump, wondered whether Virginia’s GOP gubernatorial nominee would side with Trump’s take on Powell.

“Is @GlennYoungkin fine with this repulsive statement by his man Trump about our fellow Virginian, the late Colin Powell?” Kristol tweeted. Trump has endorsed Youngkin, whom the president said would continue his mission in Virginia.

Deaths and funerals of political figures used to be unifying events in Washington. Current and former lawmakers would gather solemnly to mark the passing of a colleague, reminded – if only momentarily – of the life stage that knows no political party or ideology.

That has changed in recent years as partisanship has grown. The funeral of Sen. Paul Wellstone, Minnesota Democrat killed in a plane crash, took a partisan turn when one of Wellstone’s friends veered from eulogy to campaign pep rally in his remarks, angering some voters.

Days after the 2002 funeral (where GOP Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi was booed), Wellstone’s replacement as a candidate, former Vice President Walter Mondale, lost the seat and, with it, the Democrats’ majority status in the Senate.

Sen. John McCain’s funeral had a political undertone before it started, in part because then-sitting President Trump was explicitly not invited, while the Arizona Republican had asked Obama to deliver his eulogy. McCain’s daughter, Meghan McCain, rebuked Trump’s rhetoric in her eulogy.

In lengthy remarks at the funeral of civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, Obama talked about the Georgia Democrat’s fight for voting rights and urged Congress to continue that battle. Eulogists at the 2019 funeral of Rep. Elijah Cummings, Maryland Democrat, also had implicit criticism of Trump.

“Like that Old Testament prophet, he stood against the corrupt leadership of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel,” 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said to raucous applause.

“The partisanship that divides Congress now also divides and defines reactions to the deaths of highly laced former leaders,” says Jacobs, who is also director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for the Study of Politics and Governance.

“For Wellstone, it was tragedy and a kind of public mourning, even though the way it was expressed was not taken very well.” But the reaction to Powell’s death is on another level, Jacobs says.

“Colin Powell is a bellwether for what’s happened in the (Republican) party as it’s moved into more of a nativist, national racial party,” he adds. “That partisanship is now seeping into the grave.”

However

McConnell Statement on Colin Powell
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) released the following statement this morning regarding the passing of Colin Powell:

“America has lost a trailblazing leader with the passing of Colin Powell. It is hard to imagine a more quintessentially American story: A son of Jamaican immigrants who learned Yiddish from his boyhood neighbors in the Bronx becomes a four-star General in the United States Army and serves four presidential administrations, including as National Security Advisor, the youngest-ever Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the first Black Secretary of State.

“As a young officer, General Powell rendered brave and distinguished service on the front lines. As a senior leader, he helped four presidents protect our nation, represent us on the world stage, and chart our course through uncertain and turbulent times that included the dawn of a new century and the beginning of our global war on terrorists who will not leave America alone even if we leave them alone. Today we remember and honor a man who truly dedicated his entire life to serving his country.”

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(Only the headline and picture of Some of These reports may have been reworked by the Obook Social Network & staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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