UPDATE III:
Reuters reports, the Pentagon has told the White House that the U.S. military will not be politicized. This is in response to reports that White House officials had directed the Navy to keep the USS John S. McCain out of sight during Trump’s visit to the USS Wasp in Japan.
“Concern has increased about the politicization of the U.S. military under Trump,” including his “overtly political speeches to military audiences” and drawing the military “into a mission along the border with Mexico, which some critics have described as a political stunt rather than a national security necessity.”
“There is no room for politicizing the military,” Shanahan told reporters traveling with him to Seoul.
About time for the military to (perhaps) get a backbone!
UPDATE II:
Rear Admiral Charlie Brown, chief of Navy information, has told NBC News: “A request was made to the U.S. Navy to minimize the visibility of USS John S. McCain, however, all ships remained in their normal configuration during the President’s visit”
“There were also no intentional efforts to explicitly exclude Sailors assigned to USS John S. McCain,” the statement added.
UPDATE I:
In a scathing opinion piece at the Washington Post, Helaine Olen comments on the character of the man for whom his lackeys felt it necessary to attempt to make sure Trump did not see the name of a warship named after an American hero who may prove to be the draft dodger’s nemesis.
In addition to mentioning Trump’s well-documented character flaws (narcissist, thin-skinned…”no grace, humility or growth as a human being, never mind a politician”…”third-grader’s whit”…”repeatedly lies”…”governs the White House in a stream of invective and chaos, subjecting people who fall out of favor to public humiliation…”) Olen contrasts the late John McCain’s real patriotism to Trump’s total lack of it: “… it’s no coincidence that the president hated a living, breathing rebuke to his faux patriotism.”
It is perhaps in such a light that we can begin to grasp – not condone — why a “well-meaning” White House lackey, not wanting to “risk a presidential temper tantrum,” may have wanted the USS John S. McCain to temporarily vanish.
But, Olen concludes, “democracies can’t survive when good governance is downgraded in favor of attempts to satisfy the moods and whims of a small, petty and greedy man at the top. But Trump, it seems, is just fine with that.”
Original Post:
Last night a very trusted source at The Moderate Voice alerted me to reports that Trump and/or the White House had directed the U.S. Navy to keep the USS John McCain out of sight and/or to obscure the name of the ship while Trump visited U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan. Ten sailors died aboard the John McCain in a 2017 collision in the Singapore Strait.
I decided not to write about it last night because it was difficult for me to believe that a U.S. president — or his staff at his behest – would stoop to such low, pathetic levels of animosity and vindictiveness towards a U.S. Senator, a war hero, even after his death. Furthermore, if this in fact had occurred, I needed to take a deep overnight breath before “putting pen to paper.”
This morning’s news cycle is dominated by the stories of this incredible event.
While the “conservative” Wall Street Journal reported the story late last night, I still was not convinced until I read it this morning in the Navy Times:
The story cites a May 15 email (obtained by the Wall Street Journal) in preparation for Trump’s visit and speech to sailors and Marines aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp, which happens to be based in the same port as the USS McCain.
It was the third and final instruction that came as a surprise.
“USS John McCain needs to be out of sight…Please confirm #3 will be satisfied.”
The Navy Times adds that it would not have been possible to move the McCain to a different location. Thus, “To compensate, the Navy draped a tarp over the ship to cover up the name…”
All major news media are confirming this despicable story, including the New York Times:
The White House asked the Navy to hide a destroyer named after Senator John McCain in order to avoid having the ship appear in photographs taken while President Trump was visiting Japan this week, White House and military officials said Wednesday.
The U.S. Navy reportedly went to great lengths to shield Trump from seeing the ship. Officials told the [Wall Street]Journal they first covered it with a tarp, then used a barge to block the name and gave the sailors on the ship the day off, the Journal reported.
A senior Navy official confirmed he was aware that someone at the White House sent a message to service officials in the Pacific requesting that the USS John McCain be kept out of the picture while the president was there. That led to photographs taken Friday of a tarp obscuring the McCain name, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
A senior White House official also confirmed that they did not want the destroyer with the McCain name seen in photographs.
The New York Times also reports how pettiness may have been added to vindictiveness as in:
Two Navy sailors, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said that the McCain sailors were not invited to hear Mr. Trump speak that day aboard the amphibious assault ship Wasp, while sailors from other American warships at the base were.
A Navy service member based on Yokosuka said that all of the American warships in the harbor were invited to send 60 to 70 sailors to hear Mr. Trump’s address, with the exception of the McCain. When several sailors from the McCain showed up anyway, wearing their uniforms with the ship’s insignia, they were turned away, the service member said.
And the Post:
The crew of the McCain also was not invited to Trump’s visit, which occurred on the USS Wasp. But a Navy official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said it was because the crew was released from duty for the long holiday weekend, along with sailors from another ship, the USS Stethem.
• Trump and the White House are denying that they had “anything to do” with this troubling episode.
• The White House alleges, “the president was not involved in the planning, but the request was made to keep Trump from being upset during the visit.”
• The USS McCain could not be moved.
• The tarp covering the name of the ship was removed on Saturday, before Trump’s visit.
• A barge used to block the name of the ship was moved before Trump’s visit to the Wasp.
The fact that the motivation for such to have taken place or intended to occur was ostensibly “to keep Trump from being upset during the visit,” is sad enough.
Meghan McCain, the late Senator’s daughter, says:
Trump is a child who will always be deeply threatened by the greatness of my dad’s incredible life. 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.
Trump is on his way to deliver the commencement speech at the Air Force Academy today.
Inscribed on the “Honor Wall” overlooking the Academy’s Terrazzo is the Cadet Honor Code: “We will not lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate among us anyone who does.”
One wonders if the White House will ask the Academy to cover those words in order not to hurt Trump’s feelings.
