Trump blocks release of White House statement praising McCain

[robkelk]

Washington Post: Trump rejected plans for a White House statement praising McCain

tl;dr: Trump lets his personal bias get in the way of carrying out his duty to a long-serving member of Congress. (And it is personal - they're both Republicans, so inter-party rivalry doesn't apply.)

It's unknown whether the President will be attending the funeral, even though it's traditional for Presidents to do just that:

McCain requested that Bush and Obama deliver eulogies at his funeral, while not inviting Trump. White House aides said it is unclear whether Trump will go to Capitol Hill, where McCain is to lie in state on Friday.

Trump used to like McCain - thought his being a maverick was a good thing. Of course, Trump didn't think things through (the one thing where he's consistent), and failed to realize that a maverick would continue to be a maverick and so McCain would disagree with Trump in public. Thus, Trump's thin skin is going to stop him from being a real man and giving McCain his due.

[Bob Schroeck]

White House Flags Return To Full Staff Less Than 48 Hours After John McCain’s Death

Never let it be said that anyone could be more petty than our president. Although I'm surprised that they got lowered at all.

[Bob Schroeck]

And it sounds like this all pissed off folks on both sides of the aisle yesterday; according to CBS radio news as I was driving in, the White House got all kinds of flak from Congress. His Orangeness was finally forced to make something that approached but wasn't really all that close to a proper acknowledgment of McCain's legacy, delivered in his inimitable style. I'd say he'd been shamed into it but I doubt very much he actually has ever felt shame.

CBS took a nice little shot at him, too -- after playing his eloquent 10-second tribute to McCain, the newsperson then added, "The President's feelings about John McCain are well known", followed by playing the "I like people who weren't captured" soundbite.