Two views of the Cheney funeral, a Trump-era event

MSN.com ^ | 11/23/2025 | W. James Antle III

[E. Pluribus Unum]

You can tell a lot about someone’s feelings about the current political scene based on their visceral reaction to the scenes coming out of former Vice President Dick Cheney’s funeral.

To some, Cheney’s Friday memorial service at the National Cathedral hearkened back to a time of civility and bipartisan unity that preceded today’s intense political division. Others saw it as a reminder of the chumminess and clubiness of the swamp, which President Donald Trump was sent to drain.

While the bitterly contested 2000 presidential election may have helped kick off this era of polarization, both Cheney and former President George W. Bush have transcended their previous status as partisan lightning rods.

Former Vice President Al Gore, the Democrat who lost the 2000 race to the Bush-Cheney ticket, was at Cheney’s funeral while Trump and Vice President JD Vance were not (neither was invited). During the Florida recounts and the protracted legal fights over the 2000 election, Republican protesters gathered outside the vice president’s residence and shouted at Gore, “Get out of Cheney’s house!”

Former Vice President Mike Pence was the closest thing to a senior Trump administration official on hand for Cheney’s funeral. Pence broke with Trump over Jan. 6 and the certification of the 2020 election results. He attended former President Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration and did not endorse Trump’s successful 2024 campaign to return to the White House. 

“If anybody needed more evidence of how politics have changed in America: Rachel Maddow is at Dick Cheney's funeral,” New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker wrote on X.

Less than two decades ago, Maddow’s commentary on Cheney would have focused on Iraq,...

[Psalm 73]

"Rachel Maddow is at Dick Cheney's funeral,"

I saw him there. That's one ugly dude.

[Seruzawa]

“. To some, Cheney’s Friday memorial service at the National Cathedral hearkened back to a time of civility and bipartisan unity that preceded today’s intense political division..”

Lol. What crap. Who remembers this supposed bipartisanship? Rotfl. Bush was called a Nazi as was BushI and Reagan. Bipartisanship my dying @$$.

[chajin]

The left has to have a lightning rod enemy to keep the troops together. It was Bush/Cheney in the 2000s, and has been Trump since 2015. In the interregnum, meaning during most of the Obama regime, I don’t think it was anyone political, since most GOPers were trying to stay in good with the swamp; the winner of the lightning rod award would have been Rush Limbaugh.

[Salvavida]

And no one got shot in the face.

[V_TWIN]

For a funeral for a VP it sure didn’t garner much attention.

[al baby]

Did the Heart Donor family attend ?

[C210N]

The only thing disappointing to this funeral was the lack of envelopes.

[ConservativeMind]

“If anybody needed more evidence of how politics have changed in America: Rachel Maddow is at Dick Cheney's funeral,” New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker wrote on X.

No, it's how much it's stayed the same.

[Texas Eagle]

“If anybody needed more evidence of how politics have changed in America: Rachel Maddow is at Dick Cheney's funeral,” New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker wrote on X.

Meh. I'm sure Rachel is one of those demonicRATS in the fake news media who thinks the only good Republican is a dead Republican. She wouldn't've been there if his daughter didn't do everything she could to sh*t on this country.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

In 2008, every one of those Democrats and media figures was calling Dick Cheney a hardline warmonger who sent kids to die for Halliburton profits.

[kawhill]

while Trump and Vice President JD Vance were not (neither was invited). That’s OK guys, I wasn’t invited either, but I’ve never been invited to a funeral.

[Jamestown1630]

Did anyone ever ask any of them what was in the envelopes?

[Skywise]

A time of CIVILITY?!

Does MSN not remember their own reporting about how Cheney was a dictator and guilty of war crimes?

And where was Obama?

[CFW]

Would someone please give me a few examples of “civility and bipartisan unity” during the Bush/Cheney presidency. Even after 9/11 the “unity” only lasted a few hours before “Bushitler and DarthCheney” once again were the descriptions of the day for the President and VP. Although Bush had only been President for a few months, the media decided the attack on our nation was totally his fault.

[ridesthemiles]

THE NEXT 2 FUNERALS WHICH WILL BE MORE INTERESTING:

OBAMA & BIDEN

[C210N]

purportedly, a short message from GHWB.

[Jamestown1630]

LOL! What former president has ever had ‘Former President’ on his stationery?

[BenLurkin]

And he never wears a tie.

[C210N]

Most likely none, so he'd be the first. For good reason.