ABC anchors under fire for giggling over idea of Trump state funeral

President Trump was himself the subject rather than the instigator of an inappropriate joke this week. 

ABC news correspondents Terry Moran and Devin Dwyer came under fire for their remarks about how Trump’s funeral might compare to that of former President George H.W Bush.

Chief foreign correspondent Moran and contributing correspondent Dwyer were covering the live stream of the 41st President’s funeral on Wednesday when they began to imagine how differently Trump would want his own service.  

Moran mused that there would ‘Probably a different tone in that funeral… first he’s going to choreograph it, so there might be more trumpets and fanfare.’

Dwyer agreed: ‘Yes, he would do it bigger, one would imagine.’

Moran went on to say that Trump would declare the occasion, in his now-familiar style of rhetoric, the ‘best presidential funeral ever.’ 

‘No one will ever have seen anything like that funeral,’ he continued.

Plenty of the pundits covering Wednesday’s ceremony commented on the stark disparities between the 41st and 45th presidents, but conservative figures were quick to condemn the ABC incident as ‘bad taste’.  

Dwyer agreed: 'Yes, he would do it bigger, one would imagine'

ABC’s chief foreign correspondent Terry Moran (left) and contributing correspondent Devin Dwyer (right) were covering the live stream of the 41st President’s funeral on Wednesday when they began to imagine how Trump would want his funeral 

President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attend the state funeral service of former President George W. Bush

President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attend the state funeral service of former President George W. Bush

Political comedian Tim Young told Fox News that the reaction would be much different had the remarks been about Obama’s passing.   

‘There would have been full blocks of TV dedicated to “how disgusting they were” on CNN and forced apologies from their own network,’ Young said.   

‘It’s in bad taste to joke about any of our current leader’s future passing.’

‘But what this highlights again is the media outrage double standard where you can say basically anything you want about a Republican and get away with it.’ 

Dan Gainor, vice president of Media Research Center – a conservative organisation with a mission to ‘expose and neutralize the propaganda arm of the Left: the national news media’ – agreed. 

He told Fox News: ‘To mock [Trump] during the coverage of the president’s funeral is just despicable garbage.’

‘I would say ABC News should apologize, but it wouldn’t be sincere if it did. This is about the billionth example of unprofessional journalism in their attacks on Trump.

‘It’s only more outrageous because of the solemn occasion,’ Gainor said. 

Former President George W. Bush walks past President Donald Trump to speak at the State Funeral for his father, former President George H.W. Bush on Wednesday 

Former President George W. Bush walks past President Donald Trump to speak at the State Funeral for his father, former President George H.W. Bush on Wednesday 

The awkward exchange began in the moments before the plane carrying George H.W Bush departed for the funeral at Washington National Cathedral. 

To fill the gap while waiting for take off, Moran noted that Trump’s election was a ‘repudiation of much of what George Herbert Walker Bush and George Walker Bush stood for because the people who voted him wanted that repudiation.’  

Moran added that Trump’s presidency ‘is an expression of the will of the people,’ and is ‘vastly different than any of the Bushes.’

However it is not unusual for the President himself to be under fire for uncomfortable remarks. He was widely criticized for his mockery of a journalist’s physical disability in 2015 and for his attack on the 1996 Miss Universe winner Alicia Machado, who says he called her ‘Miss Piggy’ and ‘Miss Housekeeping’. 

In 2016 Trump appeared to hint at rival Hillary Clinton’s assasination, when he said that  ‘second amendment people’ could stop her from making judicial nominations. 

George H.W. Bush, 41st President of the United States, was given a public funeral in the Washington National Cathedral in the nation's capital on Wednesday.The list of funeral service speakers marked the first time since Lyndon Johnson's death in 1973 that a sitting president was not tapped to eulogize a late president

George H.W. Bush, 41st President of the United States, was given a public funeral in the Washington National Cathedral in the nation’s capital on Wednesday.The list of funeral service speakers marked the first time since Lyndon Johnson’s death in 1973 that a sitting president was not tapped to eulogize a late president

‘By the way, and if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know,’ he said. 

‘It sounds like just a joke gone bad. I hope he clears it up very quickly,’ Republican House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan said at the time.  

Bush, who died late Friday at his home in Houston at age 94, was memorialized Wednesday during an emotional funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral.    

As well as current President Trump and first lady Melania, all four living former occupants of the White House were in attendance. 

The ceremony brought together world envoys, Americans of high office and a man from Maine who used to fix things in Bush’s house on the water.  

The list of funeral service speakers marked the first time since Lyndon Johnson’s death in 1973 that a sitting president was not tapped to eulogize a late president. 

Clinton did so for Richard Nixon, and George W. Bush eulogized Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford.

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