President Donald Trump over Memorial Day weekend traveled to Japan to become the first foreign leader to meet with the island nation’s new emperor. As with all presidential trips, there were many plans. But as The Wall Street Journal reports, included in those plans was this unprecedented directive from the White House: “USS John McCain needs to be out of sight.”
The warship, which is undergoing repairs and thus is hard to move, was instead shielded from its own Commander-in-Chief’s eyes by having a tarp hung over its side to obscure the name “USS John McCain.” Later, a barge was moved to hide the ship’s offending name.
The USS John McCain is named for the late Republican Senator from Arizona’s father and grandfather. But Sen. McCain was also a highly-decorated Navy Captain during the Vietnam War, and a prisoner of war. One month before his death Senator McCain’s name was added as part of the ship’s namesake. President Trump repeatedly, and for years, has made his hatred of Sen. McCain more than clear.
The usually casual-about-details White House had followed up with a memo: “Please confirm #3 will be satisfied,” referring to the directive to hide the warship.
And if all that weren’t enough, the crew from the USS John McCain were given the day of the President’s visit off so their caps, which have the warship’s name embroidered across the front, would not be seen by Trump.
All this rigamarole was approved by the current Acting Defense Secretary, Pat Shanahan, according to the Journal. Shanahan has been nominated to the position permanently. The DoD has since denied he was aware of the White House request.
During his speech to local U.S. sailors from aboard the USS Wasp (photo), moored at Yokosuka Naval Base, President Trump spoke to the Navy troops, mentioning many of their positions, including the officers, naval aviators, and even cooks, by name He also mentioned all their ships’ names. All except the USS John McCain.
UPDATE:
Image by The White House via Flickr