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The Final Salute: Why Dick Cheney’s Funeral Became a Political Litmus Test

Byline: Senior Political Correspondent

Date: November 21, 2025

In the hushed, sanctified halls of Washington National Cathedral, where the echoes of eulogies for presidents and statesmen linger long after the organ fades, a silent but deafening political statement was made this week. The funeral of former Vice President Dick Cheney, a titan of the American conservative movement and a defining figure of the post-9/11 era, was intended to be a final farewell to a complex legacy. Instead, it served as a stark divider, a mirror reflecting the fractured state of the Republican Party and the enduring schism between the old guard of the neoconservative establishment and the populist wave that has consumed it.

The absence of two specific figures—former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance—did not go unnoticed. Their exclusion from the guest list, and the subsequent reports confirming the snub, has ignited a fresh round of discourse about the GOP's identity, the legacy of the Bush years, and the future of American conservatism.

A Deliberate Exclusion: The Events of the Day

The official narrative, confirmed by multiple reputable news outlets, centers on the guest list curated by the Cheney family. According to a report from The Guardian, both Donald Trump and JD Vance were notably absent from the pews of the Cathedral. This was not a scheduling conflict or a mutual decision to avoid controversy; it was a deliberate choice.

Sources close to the planning of the service indicated that the family made a conscious decision to exclude the current standard-bearers of the Republican party, a move that speaks volumes about the deep ideological chasm separating the Cheneys from the Trump-Vance wing. As The Guardian noted, the decision underscores the "bitter divide" that has characterized the GOP for nearly a decade.

This exclusion is particularly poignant given the public and vitriolic nature of the feud between Dick Cheney's daughter, former Congresswoman Liz Cheney, and Donald Trump. Liz Cheney’s role as a vice chair of the House Select Committee on the January 6th attack made her a pariah in Trump's eyes, and she has paid a heavy political price for her defiance. Her father's funeral, therefore, became the ultimate backdrop for this ongoing family and political drama.

The "Long, Strange Goodbye": A Legacy in the Balance

To understand the gravity of this snub, one must look beyond the immediate politics of 2025 and examine the towering, controversial legacy of the man being mourned. The New Yorker, in its coverage of the event, framed Cheney’s passing as the end of an era, describing it as a "Long, Strange Goodbye." This aptly captures the journey of a man who, alongside Donald Rumsfeld, shaped the foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration and, by extension, the 21st century.

Cheney was the archetypal hawk. He was the chief architect of the Iraq War, a fervent believer in American interventionism, and the intellectual force behind the expansion of executive power in the wake of the September 11th attacks. For decades, he represented the muscular, unapologetic face of American power.

However, the Republican party of 2025 is not the party of 2005. It has morphed into a populist, nationalist movement under Trump, one that is deeply skeptical of foreign entanglements and openly hostile to the "forever wars" that Cheney championed. The snub at the funeral is not just personal; it is ideological. It represents the new GOP's definitive rejection of the Bush-Cheney doctrine.

In a piece for The Atlantic, titled "Death in the Time of Trump," the funeral is contextualized within the current political landscape. The publication highlights how the event served as a "reunion of the Bush-era establishment," a gathering of diplomats, generals, and policymakers who have largely been sidelined or ostracized in the Trump era. The absence of Trump and Vance was the necessary corollary to this reunion; their presence would have been an incongruity, a disruption of the very narrative the service sought to uphold—the narrative of a specific brand of American conservatism that once ruled Washington.

Contextual Background: The Unbridgeable Gulf

The tension between these two factions of the Republican party has been brewing for years, but it has crystallized in the period leading up to the 2024 election and beyond. The core of the conflict lies in their fundamentally different worldviews.

The Establishment vs. The Insurgency: Dick Cheney and his contemporaries believed in a strong American-led global order, robust alliances like NATO, and the use of military force to project power and spread democracy. This was the consensus view of both parties for decades.

The Trump-Vance Doctrine: In contrast, Trump and Vance represent a "America First" philosophy. They argue that the interventions of the past, particularly in the Middle East, were costly mistakes that drained American resources and lives for little gain. Vance, a veteran of the Iraq War, has been particularly vocal about his disillusionment with the foreign policy establishment, a sentiment that helped him forge a strong bond with Trump.

This philosophical divide became personal during the 2024 campaign. Vance, echoing Trump, repeatedly attacked the "neocons" and the architects of the Iraq War. He positioned himself as the voice of the working-class veteran, while the Cheneys were portrayed as out-of-touch elites who sent others to fight in wars they would never fight themselves.

The funeral, therefore, was a line in the sand. By inviting figures like former President George W. Bush and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice while barring Trump and Vance, the Cheney family was making a statement: they stand with the old order, and they consider the populist wing to be an outsider, an illegitimate heir to the conservative movement.

Immediate Effects: The Ripple Effect of a Snub

The immediate impact of this event is primarily symbolic, but in politics, symbolism is power. The snub has several immediate consequences:

1. Solidification of Factions: The event hardens the lines between the two camps. For the Trump-Vance base, the exclusion is proof that the "DC establishment" still looks down on them and conspires to exclude them. It reinforces the narrative of Trump as a perpetual outsider fighting a corrupt system.
2. A Moment of Reckoning for the Establishment: For the neoconservative wing, the funeral was a moment of catharsis and reunion. It allowed them to publicly mourn a leader and implicitly critique the current direction of the party without saying a word. It was a gathering of the "loyal opposition" within the GOP.
3. Media Narrative: The story has dominated political news cycles, forcing both sides to re-litigate the Iraq War and the Bush legacy. This is a debate Trump is comfortable having, as it highlights his "anti-war" credentials, even if his own record is mixed.

The Road Ahead: A Party Still at War With Itself

Looking forward, the funeral of Dick Cheney is less of an ending and more of a signpost. It indicates that the civil war within the Republican Party is far from over. While the populist wing currently holds power, the respect and institutional memory embodied by the old guard have not vanished.

The key question is whether these two visions for America can ever be reconciled. The events at Washington National Cathedral suggest the answer is no, at least not for now. The ideological gap between a worldview predicated on global interventionism and one rooted in nationalist retrenchment is simply too wide.

For the foreseeable future, the Republican Party will continue to be a party at war with its own past. The memory of Dick Cheney will be invoked by both sides: by one as a symbol of strength and resolve, and by the other as a cautionary tale of hubris and disastrous foreign policy. The guest list for his funeral was not just about who would pay their respects; it was a preview of the battle for the soul of the GOP that will define American politics for years to come.

Verified News Reports:

• Dick Cheney’s Long, Strange Goodbye - The New Yorker
• Death in the Time of Trump - The Atlantic
• Donald Trump and JD Vance snubbed for Dick Cheney’s funeral - The Guardian