2018 Elections update.

Wednesday's funeral service for former President George H.W. Bush served as a rare reunion of the remaining members of the presidents club, but the front-row banter among Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter and their spouses came to an uneasy end when President Donald Trump and wife Melania arrived.

The encounter was a real-time illustration of the uneasy ties between the current occupant of the White House and his predecessors, suggesting Trump as a member-in-name-only of the Oval Office fraternity. While the funeral ceremony itself was a warm celebration of the late president, the relationships between the surviving presidents are considerably cooler.

The ceremony's tributes at times stood as an unspoken counterpoint to Trump's leadership, as historian Jon Meacham eulogized Bush by recounting his life's credo: "Tell the truth, don't blame people, be strong, do your best, try hard, forgive, stay the course." George W. Bush added of his father: "He could tease and needle, but not out of malice."

The late Bush was the de facto chair of the modern incarnation of the president's club, transcending contentious campaigns and party lines to bring together fractious personalities who share that rarified experience.

Trump has sought to meet the elder Bush's passing with grace, a contrast to the rhythms of much of his tumultuous presidency. He came to office after a campaign in which he harshly criticized his Democratic predecessors and co-opted a Republican Party once dominated by the Bush family.

Despite the traditional kinship among presidents, Trump's predecessors have all made their discomfort known in different ways.

"It's unusual that a cabal of ex-presidents from both parties dislike a sitting president and that's what you've got happening right now," said Douglas Brinkley, a history professor at Rice University.