Bitter Trump’s U-turn as he lowers flag for McCain
DONALD Trump was last night forced into an embarrassing U-turn after earlier refusing to keep the White House flag at half-mast as a mark of respect to his critic John McCain.
The Stars and Stripes was lowered following Senator McCain’s death on Saturday but was raised again at midnight on Sunday as Mr Trump took his feud with Mr McCain to beyond the grave.
White House tradition dictates it can be kept at halfmast until burial as a show of mourning. All the other flags around the nearby Washington monument were at halfmast after the death of the respected 81-year-old.
But after a day of criticism, Mr Trump bowed to pressure and said he would lower the flag again until Mr McCain’s burial on Sunday to ‘honour’ him. Mr Trump said: ‘Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John McCain’s service to our country’. Mr Trump had earlier reportedly refused to sign off a White House statement that would have called his long-time enemy a ‘hero’.
Last night it was revealed that Mr McCain’s final words took a swipe at the President.
His farewell statement criticised Trump’s plans for a wall with Mexico. It said: ‘I lived and died a proud American,’ adding: ‘We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries... We weaken it when we hide behind walls, rather than tear them down.’
Mr McCain was tortured during nearly six years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam – at the same time the young Don- ald Trump had avoided being drafted into the conflict.
The senator died after a battle with brain cancer and his death was marked by glowing tributes from across the US political spectrum.
But Mr Trump refused to forgive him for their frosty relationship and for blocking his attempts to get rid of President Obama’s healthcare programme. CNN and the Washington Post reported that before Mr McCain died, Mr Trump’s aides had drafted a statement in praise of the senator but it was never released. It would have called Mr McCain a ‘ hero’ and thanked him for his decades of service to his country.
Instead Mr Trump issued a tepid 21-word tweet offering his ‘deepest sympathies’ to Mr McCain’s family.
The senator will be buried in Annapolis, Maryland, after lying in state in the US Capitol Rotunda on Friday. Mr Trump has reportedly been banned from attending.
‘We weaken our greatness’