A combo of photos shows the US flag above the White House (left) as the US flag returned to full staff two days after the death of McCain and the flag that flies at half staff later in the day in Washington, DC after Trump ordered the White House flag back to half-staff. — AFP photo
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump bowed to pressure to honour the late John McCain, ordering that flags be lowered to half-staff across the country, as the late senator fired a parting shot at the president in a farewell message to the United States.
Trump’s about-face came after he found himself mired in controversy over his rather conspicuous failure to pay tribute to McCain, who died Saturday at 81 after a year-long battle with brain cancer.
When veterans’ groups launched appeals for a more fitting salute to McCain, a Navy veteran who was imprisoned for more than five years in Vietnam, the Republican leader – who had no love lost for the Arizona senator – blinked.
“Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John McCain’s service to our country,” Trump said in a statement as he ordered the flag atop the White House and elsewhere to fly at half-staff until McCain’s burial on Sunday.
He later told evangelical leaders that “we very much appreciate everything that senator McCain has done for our country.”
The White House flag was lowered after McCain’s death on Saturday – but it was once again at the top of the flagpole on Monday morning.
Trump’s initial silence about McCain underscored the isolation of the US leader and fueled criticism that he is incapable of bringing a divided nation together even as it mourns a man widely seen as an American hero and a political icon.
In Phoenix, where a week of tributes to McCain was soon to get under way, the two-time presidential candidate’s former campaign manager Rick Davis confirmed that Trump would not be attending the funeral.
However, vice-president Mike Pence is set to speak at a ceremony honouring McCain at the US Capitol on Friday.
White House chief of staff John Kelly, Defence Secretary James Mattis and National Security Advisor John Bolton will represent the administration during services.
In Phoenix, Davis read a posthumous statement that made a final jab at Trump.
“We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe,” McCain said.
“We weaken it when we hide behind walls, rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals, rather than trust them to be the great force for change they have always been,” he said – an apparent reference to Trump’s plans for a border wall.
The Washington Post reported that White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, Chief of Staff Kelly and other senior staff had urged a statement be released referring to McCain as a ‘hero’ – but Trump opted for a terse, impersonal tweet instead.
The enmity between Trump and McCain dates from the day the real estate tycoon announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination with an attack on Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists.
During the 2016 campaign, Trump mocked McCain’s war service.
In the years since, McCain was Trump’s loudest Republican critic, especially as the president disrupted America’s long-time alliances.
McCain’s remains will lie in state at Arizona’s capitol on Wednesday, before a public viewing Friday in the rotunda of the US Capitol – an honour reserved for the likes of John F Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and civil rights champion Rosa Parks. — AFP