Sometimes they show the whole "presidential" row, but Trump isn't getting special camera time at all. They are treating the occasion appropriately; that is, it's not Trump's show. It's actually quite a nice service and the music is very good.

Old friend of the family passed away the same day (afternoon) as President Bush.

ETA: My mother attended as well, but wanted her wishes made clear: Short and simple, just like my dad's.

That funeral was pretty elaborate, but he was a pillar of the Jewish community, and well-attended.

eulogy, being w/ his friends and family, etc. And for only a couple of hours or so. It cost nothing, but w/ rump, you can see the pain and effort it's costing him...what a spoiled, petulant baby.

For some of us, funerals have been the name of the game for quite a while, but they have slacked off, thank goodness, over the last 10 years or so. You'll be around for a while, charming all of us for a bit I hope.

Some people find comfort in them. I suppose it helps people to know their grief is shared. It just seems a bit morbid to have a ceremony around a lifeless body. Even if one subscribes to the belief in a metaphysical soul, most seem to believe it’s long gone shortly after death. The idea of dressing up a corpse with makeup and sewn shut eyes and lips just seems wrong. I can’t imagine why anyone would want that other than those who profit from such services.

I do not attend viewings. I understand the ceremonial nature of funerals and get the concept of closure they seem to represent. They provide a finality to the passage. However, I don't find them to be comforting. I don't find them emotionally useful. When my brother died unexpectedly a couple of years ago, I attended his memorial service, and even spoke at it. That was expected of me, as the eldest sibling. It is not a role I particularly want to play, however. So I used my time to turn people's attention to their unique memories of my brother and their role in whatever immortality people have.

Unfortunately, my brief comments were followed by a lengthy, amateurish sermon by my nephew, his son. He used his time to evangelize for Jesus, despite my brother's non-belief, and then he lectured the gathering about the evils of alcohol, which was probably what destroyed my brother's liver and caused his death. It was a scolding, unsatisfactory eulogy, which upset my parents a great deal. Both of them are in their 90s, do not have any religious beliefs, and they did not wish to hear that their son's death was his own fault.

People express their grief in different ways. Many of those ways are inappropriate for public revelation. Too often, funerals become exercises in unpleasantness. That's too bad.