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How did attendees and family react to Trump's remarks about Cheney?
Executive summary
Coverage shows that many family members, political leaders and attendees at Dick Cheney’s funeral honored him with tributes and eulogies, while President Trump did not attend and had been publicly hostile to Cheney prior to his death [1] [2] [3]. Reporting documents strong praise from Liz Cheney and bipartisan recognition at the Washington National Cathedral, and separate threads note Trump's silence or snub and his past public attacks on both Dick Cheney and his daughter [1] [4] [2] [3].
1. A funeral framed by family tribute and institutional respect
Media accounts describe a ceremonial, high-profile service at the Washington National Cathedral where family members and a range of political figures delivered tributes: Liz Cheney gave a prominent eulogy calling her father “a giant,” and former presidents and other leaders attended to pay respects [1] [4] [5]. Coverage emphasizes that the service drew figures from across the political spectrum and stressed Cheney’s long record in government rather than partisan rancor inside the building [1] [4].
2. Liz Cheney’s eulogy: honor, memory, and a pointed political legacy
Liz Cheney’s remarks were widely quoted and framed as an affectionate, forceful appraisal of her father—“a giant to the end, a lion of a man who loved and served this great republic”—positioning family memory as the center of the day and implicitly contrasting Cheney’s institutionalism with later partisan battles [5]. C-SPAN coverage also highlights other sharp public criticisms Cheney made in her political role, which contextualize why the family eulogy mattered both personally and politically [6].
3. Who showed up — and who didn’t
Multiple outlets reported that notable figures attended the service, including former presidents and vice presidents, congressional leaders and some Supreme Court justices, while President Trump and his Vice President J.D. Vance were not invited and did not attend [1] [4] [2]. Coverage frames the absence of Trump and close allies as a continuation of the public estrangement between Cheney and Trump-era Republicans [1] [2].
4. Trump’s silence and the public feud that preceded it
Outlets documented that Trump did not publicly mark Cheney’s death on social media or with a statement at the time many other officials did; the White House offered only a muted, procedural response about flags at half-staff [7] [3]. Other reporting underscores that the silence followed years of mutual hostility: Dick Cheney had become a vocal critic of Trump and even backed Democrats in 2024, while Trump had repeatedly attacked both Cheney and his daughter publicly [8] [9].
5. Attendee reactions beyond the family — bipartisan acknowledgment
Journalistic accounts noted that some Democrats and former Cheney critics nonetheless showed respect at the funeral, illustrating a temporary rapprochement in the face of a statesman’s passing: scenes described Democratic figures interacting cordially with Cheney’s family and others in attendance [4] [8]. These reports frame the funeral as a moment when political adversaries publicly set aside disputes to honor a long-serving official [4].
6. How reporting connects the funeral moment to broader political fault lines
Commentary and analysis pieces tie the funeral and attendant reactions to the broader story of how Cheney’s late-life break with Trump crystallized a schism in the GOP: outlets trace how Cheney’s warnings about executive power and his condemnation of Trump after Jan. 6 made him a pariah to many in the party yet drew unexpected respect from opponents [10] [8] [11]. Reporting thus treats the funeral both as a personal commemoration and as a symbolic punctuation of that intra-party conflict [10] [11].
7. Limitations of available reporting and what’s not in these sources
Available sources do not mention detailed, systematic polling of attendees’ private reactions beyond public remarks and social-media statements, nor do they provide verbatim transcripts of every attendee’s informal interactions at the cathedral (not found in current reporting). Also not covered here are first-person interviews with rank-and-file mourners beyond the high-profile figures cited in the stories (not found in current reporting).
8. Why these details matter to readers
The mix of family praise, bipartisan acknowledgements, and Trump’s conspicuous absence shows how a public funeral can simultaneously be a private family event and a public political signal. Reporting consistently ties the reactions in attendance to Cheney’s late-life political stance against Trump, offering a lens on how American political rituals reflect and sometimes momentarily transcend current partisan divides [4] [3].