Up, down, up, down … following the US flag on top of the White House was like watching a vertical tennis match as Donald Trump turned his hug toy into a banner of his pettiness. Though the flag was automatically lowered following the death of Senator John McCain, Trump had the flag run up to full height again on Monday morning—a situation that was extremely notable because all the flags on surrounding buildings remained at half-staff. At least they did until the flags at some of those other locations were suddenly raised as well.
For most of the day, Trump refused to issue an order for all flags to be lowered—standard behavior on the death of a congressman or senator. It was only after this very visible snubbing of McCain was protested by groups on both left and right, including prominent veterans’ groups, that Trump relented and issued a belated order.
Likewise, Trump spent both Sunday and most of Monday very much not talking about John McCain. After issuing a brief condolence to the senator’s family on Saturday evening, one that included not a word about McCain himself, Trump visibly sneered when reporters tried to get a comment from Trump on Monday. Trump’s dodging of questions (perhaps he developed a sudden and previously unknown bone spur) stood in stark contrast to both Republican and Democratic lawmakers who appeared both in the Senate chamber and television studios to praise their former colleagues.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump thought that McCain was getting too much attention. And to underline that he couldn’t stand to see anyone else being the focus of the nation, Trump described the attention being paid to McCain as “over-the-top and more befitting a president.”
But on Monday evening, Trump was finally forced to utter one whole sentence worth of kind words, saying “We very much appreciate everything that Senator McCain has done for our country.” And that was it. Trump’s serving of crow was ultimately small, but gall makes for bitter seasoning, even on a snack.