USS John McCain insult is one more disgraceful chance for Donald Trump to look small
OPINION
Laurie Roberts, Arizona Republic
Arizona Sen. John McCain may be nine months in his grave yet still he is making Donald Trump look like a presidential pigmy.
The president’s blood feud with a man who no longer can fight back continues this month, the Wall Street Journal reports, as the White House instructed the Navy to move the USS John McCain “out of sight” for Trump’s visit to Japan.
So
the United States Navy hung a tarp over the ship’s name and sailors, who wear a cap bearing McCain’s name, were given the day off while the president was in town.
Let me just repeat that.
The U.S. military hid the name of a Navy pilot who was shot down over North Vietnam and tortured while being held for five and a half years as a prisoner of war. A man whose injuries left him unable to raise his arms above his head for the rest of his life.
This, because our president prefers “people who weren’t captured.”
People who don’t dare to speak truth to power ... about women, about Latinos, about foreign policy and especially about Russia. (McCain called Trump's press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.”)
People who don’t spend the final year of their life pleading for this nation and its leaders to live up to our ideals, recalling what America represents and repudiating Trump and the nationalist wave he rode in on.
Clearly, McCain’s remarks stung Trump, who the next day fired back.
“People have to be careful because at some point I fight back," Trump said. "I'm being very nice. I'm being very, very nice. But at some point I fight back, and it won't be pretty."
No kidding.
Trump’s feud with McCain began when McCain shunned and later panned Trump's first Phoenix campaign rally. (“He fired up the crazies,” McCain said.)
And it ends … never.
In February, Trump was griping about his 2017 vote against a repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
In March, Trump was still griping about that vote and assorted other things and felt the need to tweet out that McCain was "last in his class" at the US Naval Academy. (He wasn’t.)
And harrumphing that he “had to” give McCain “the kind of funeral that he wanted” and never got any thanks from the family. (He did.)
Now, the Navy throws a tarp over McCain’s name on a warship named for him, his father and grandfather because, what, the President Bone Spur’s eyes would bleed if he saw it?
According to the WSJ, Navy and Air Force officials received an email on May 15 listing needed preparations for Trump’s visit. No. 3 on the list was that the USS John McCain be "out of sight." The warship was stationed at the Yokosuka Naval Base near the USS Wasp, where Trump spoke on Memorial Day.
“Please confirm #3 will be satisfied,” a U.S. Indo-Pacific Command official wrote, adding that he was working with the White House Military Office to obtain more information.
The Journal reported that Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan was aware of the concern about the USS John McCain’s presence in Japan and “approved measures” so it wouldn’t interfere with the president’s trip.
The word “disgraceful” doesn’t even begin to cover it.
Trump late Wednesday responded that he had nothing to do with throwing a tarp over the McCain name. Or giving sailors, who wear caps bearing the name McCain, the day off. Or moving a barge near the ship to make it harder to see from the USS Wasp.
Hard to believe the military decided to diss three generations of McCains all on its own.
[Pretty much impossible...BTW, the ship is named for McCain's father and grandfather, not the senator...
Meghan McCain, who like her father never backs down from a fight, didn’t let this slight go and good for her.
Meghan McCain
Verified account @MeghanMcCain
Trump is a child who will always be deeply threatened by the greatness of my dads incredible life.[/b [Meghan hits the nail right on the ol' noggin there] There is a lot of criticism of how much I speak about my dad, but nine months since he passed, Trump won't let him RIP. So I have to stand up for him.
It makes my grief unbearable.
Good for her.
It has now been 277 days since John McCain died.
That is 39 weeks and four days. That is nine months and four days.
That is far too long for a president, who presumably has other things to do, to continue his blood feud with a statesman now dead and buried.
Let it go, Mr. President.
It’s been 277 days since his death, and still John McCain is making you look small. 
