Meghan McCain on Thursday accused President Trump of creating a culture “fearful to show my father’s name” following reports that the White House asked military officials to hide the USS John S. McCain during Trump’s state visit to Japan.
“The president’s actions have consequences, and when you repeatedly are attacking my father and war heroes it creates a culture in the military where people are clearly fearful to show my father’s name,” McCain said on ABC’s “The View.” “That’s what started this again … if you’re afraid to have a hat or show the name of the warship which is named after my grandfather, who was an officer in the Navy.”
{mosads}She also said the climate was putting members of the Navy “in horrific situations.”
“If you’re a sailor on this ship, you think there’s going to be retribution. I think it’s horrible,” added McCain, whose late father, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), often clashed with Trump. “It’s bad for Americans.”
The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday that White House officials had asked for the USS McCain to be out of sight during Trump’s Memorial Day visit to Yokosuka Naval Base.
Trump denied any knowledge of the decision but said Thursday that the person behind it was “well-meaning,” adding that he was “not a big fan of John McCain in any way, shape or form.”
Trump has repeatedly criticized the late Arizona senator since his death, prompting sharp rebukes from Meghan McCain and other family members.
In response to the initial report Wednesday night, she tweeted that Trump was “a child who will always be deeply threatened by the greatness of my dads incredible life.”
After Trump attacked the late senator in March, McCain tweeted that “no one will ever love you the way they loved my father.”
“It’s impossible to go through the grief process when my father, who has been dead for ten months, is constantly in the news cycle because the president is so obsessed with the fact that he’s never going to be a great man like he was,” she said on Thursday.
Updated at 12:17 p.m.