Posted on 06/02/2019 1:46:13 PM PDT by Ennis85
The Pentagon sent a stern message to the White House over the weekend after it was confirmed officials directed the United States Navy to minimize the presence of the USS John McCain during President Donald Trump's recent visit to Japan.
What did the Pentagon say?
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan directed his staff over the weekend to reaffirm that the U.S. military will not be "politicized," Reuters reported.
"Secretary Shanahan directed his chief of staff to speak with the White House military office and reaffirm his mandate that the Department of Defense will not be politicized," Pentagon spokesman Lt. Colonel Joe Buccino said. "The chief of staff reported that he did reinforce this message."
While traveling to Seoul on Sunday, Shanahan reaffirmed his message to reporters accompanying him on the trip.
"There is no room for politicizing the military," Shanahan said.
What is the background?
On Saturday, the U.S. Navy confirmed the White House requested the USS John McCain be moved during Trump's visit to Japan, NBC News reported.
"A request was made to the U.S. Navy to minimize the visibility of USS John S. McCain, however, all ships remained in their normal configuration during the President's visit," Rear Admiral Charlie Brown, chief of information, told NBC.
According to Reuters, the request originated in the White House military office. Apparently, staffers believed the optics would not be good for the president since McCain was one of his biggest political rivals.
However, as Brown confirmed, senior Navy leadership refused comply with the request.
What is the White House saying?
On Sunday, White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney downplayed the incident, calling the request "not ... unreasonable."
https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/1135176786873081857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1135176786873081857%7Ctwgr%5E393039363b636f6e74726f6c&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theblaze.com%2Fres%2Fcommunity%2Ftwitter_embed%2F%3Fiframe_id%3Dtwitter-embed-1135176786873081857%26created_ts%3D1559482211.0%26screen_name%3DMeetThePress%26text%3DWATCH%253A%2BActing%2BWhite%2BHouse%2BChief%2Bof%2BStaff%2BMick%2BMulvaney%2Btells%2BChuck%2BTodd%2Bthat%2Bmoving%2Ba%2BNavy%2Bship%2Bout%2Bof%2Bsight%2Bfrom%2Bt%25E2%2580%25A6%2Bhttps%253A%252F%252Ft.co%252FW5ZvDSw0DM%26id%3D1135176786873081857%26name%3DMeet%2Bthe%2BPress
Not quite. I don’t have time to see all of the negatives about Senor McCain. I still have my bias though. Wow, that is a lot of red ink on the page.
I think Trump has said he didn’t ask for it so the “stern warning” was sent to bureaucrats in the white house who take it on themselves to turn the military into props. I think the pentagon sending that message is not inappropriate frankly and based on his comments I think that the President agrees with the sentiment.
Is the Pentagon going to fire the President?
Named after McCain’s father and grandfather, both were 4 star Admirals!
McCain III was an asshole - thought his 4 star daddy and granddaddy would be able to grease his skids, and to a degree, they did!
McCain III dishonored his name, the US Navy and the US Senate!
Presidents get capital ships like carriers. Not destroyers named after them.
The ship was named for John Sidney “Sloosh” McCaine an Admiral during WW-2 and Admiral Halley’s second in command. Not his dumbass spoiled brat of a grandson.
What can it be changed to? And if it can’t be formally changed, what is a good nickname? USS Pretender, maybe?
Good one ;-)
Nah, don’t scrap it. Get a skeleton crew of robots to sail it into Iranian waters and after the towel heads sink it, we have our excuse to light them up with some real throw weight.
Really should not matter. McCain and Trump are both Republicans. How can politics be an issue to the Pentagon ? They have to take thinks at legal and face value. They have failed. This was just one Republucan arranging his Republican ships. This means we have potential Castro’s in this military.
Some of them are links to the same stories I linked to, most are not.
That's not what Trump says about it and I'll take his word.
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