Trump just claimed he wasn't informed about anything having to do with the USS John McCain (UPDATED)

[highplainsdem]

Last edited Wed May 29, 2019, 10:40 PM - Edit history (2)

His tweet is apparently in response to the story from the Wall Street Journal that the White House requested before Trump's visit to Japan that the ship be "out of sight" during the visit:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212142451


Trump's tweet tonight:

Link to tweet

I was not informed about anything having to do with the Navy Ship USS John S. McCain during my recent visit to Japan. Nevertheless, @FLOTUS and I loved being with our great Military Men and Women - what a spectacular job they do!

_____


Editing to add a tweet from Josh Dawsey, saying WH aides are now claiming Trump wasn't involved in the decision:

Link to tweet

Admin officials confirm WSJ story. Request was made to make sure McCain ship wasn’t visible. Aides say Trump wasn’t involved in request — but it was made to prevent any potential ire from POTUS. More to come: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/meghan-mccain-hits-out-at-trump-over-report-white-house-wanted-uss-john-s-mccain-covered-up/2019/05/29/3ad314b2-8272-11e9-933d-7501070ee669_story.html …

FWIW, I don't believe Trump wasn't involved. But even if he hadn't been involved, it looks terrible for him that his aides would be so afraid of a temper tantrum that they felt the USS John McCain had to be out of Trump's sight.

[mr_lebowski]

1. Could very well have just been the people around him ...

Not wanting to deal with a child-like breakdown, extra diapers to clean, etc.

I could see his handlers taking it on themselves.

OTOH, FOR SURE I could see his handlers covering for him, if it were actually his idea, and now he's lying about it. They'd feel obliged to say 'yeah, we actually did that on our own!'.

Whole thing feels like yet another staged distraction, TBH.

[Xipe Totec]

10. Why assume he's not lying? That's a pretty big stretch. nt

[dchill]

30. You are so right. Nobody would dare do that without his approval.

[forgotmylogin]

39. It's been documented that aides routinely keep bad headlines out of his sight.

They know he'll meltdown and not be able to function. I can believe Trump didn't know about this, but someone didn't want to chance him melting down overseas or noticing it and making an idiotic statement at the wrong time.

The president is mad and does not have the temperament for the office.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. He could be lying, of course, since he almost always is.

Or, his handlers decided they wanted to avoid another embarrassing tweeted hissy fit about McCain. Either way, it's ridiculous.

[TheBlackAdder]

42. The Buck Stops Here? With Trump, it's always Passing The Buck!

[C_U_L8R]

3. He's so full of shit

And it does not nearly explain why he named every ship in the fleet EXCEPT the McCain and its crew in his speech. What a fucker.

[Flaleftist]

8. Wow. I missed that bit.

He is such a pathetic person.

[Brother Buzz]

17. Here's hoping a genuine journalist picks up on that nugget, fleshes it out, and runs with it

[C_U_L8R]

25. Here's the transcript.

Not one single mention of the McCain and its crew.

https://factba.se/transcript/donald-trump-remarks-troops-uss-wasp-yokosuka-japan-may-28-2019

[Brother Buzz]

31. I'm convinced.... Journalists, please pick up the nearest white courtesy telephone.

[SHRED]

4. I replied this

"So you're not in charge?"

[GusBob]

38. Ya who gave the sailors the day off?

The WH staff cant do that can they?

Who gave the order?

[LearnedHand]

5. I wonder, then, just exactly who IS commanding the Navy (eom)

[Nitram]

6. C'mon, his lips were obviously moving when he said that...

[Flaleftist]

7. It had to be someone high up to make that happen.

If it wasn't Trump, just the fact that his handlers thought it necessary says enough. They know what he is like off camera and behind the view of the public. As bad as he is in public, I can't even imagine what he must be like behind closed doors. Actually, I can and it isn't pretty.

[tanyev]

11. Yep, they wanted to head off an anti-McCain rant on Memorial Day,

set off by merely seeing the name McCain. Sad and pathetic.

[gratuitous]

9. How petty is Needy Amin?

That petty.

[Ilsa]

21. "Needy Amin." Love it! nt

[Mendocino]

44. Trump is the

Chief Petty Orficer

[Beringia]

12. Morgan Freeman, LIAR

Link to tweet

[dewsgirl]

13. The man has lied literally over 10,000 times in 2 years. Why ever assume he is telling the truth?

[Leghorn21]

14. "USS John McCain" is trending at #5! One tweeter said,

“If he doesn’t want to see the USS John McCain, throw a tarp over Trump!”

[Ilsa]

22. I don't think tarps come big enough

to cover both trump's ass and ego.

[LonePirate]

15. So, will he ask for the matter to be investigated and will the perpetrators who ordered it be fired?

[Generic Other]

16. Commander-in-Chief Petty Officer

afraid to be mocked by a ship.

[keithbvadu2]

18. Just another lie by Trump

[NastyRiffraff]

19. Liar

I don't believe anything Donald Trump says. If he said the sun rises in the east I'd have to double check.

[highplainsdem]

20. I've updated the OP with a journalist's tweet saying aides are now claiming Trump wasn't involved,

but the request was made to prevent a tantrum (my word for it; the journalist tweeted "any potential ire from POTUS" ).

[IADEMO2004]

23. This must be some deep state dirty trickster in the white house. sar effing casm

How many people helped accomplished this task and thought it would not explode in their stupid stupid faces?

[Pachamama]

24. Weird - why did SCROTUS think he had to tweet about the USS McCain?

Guilt?

[Iliyah]

26. I do not believe shithole.

Why? Ok I know his minions are just as stupid as he is but he probably mentioned this to them, nudge nudge . . . wink wink . . . .

Also, they all had to realize that this was going to come out, right.

[Mendocino]

27. The tarp is for the unveiling

of the new Trump steam catapult that belches molecules of freedom gas.

[highplainsdem]

28. LOL!

[madaboutharry]

29. His staff spends their time managing his emotional

outbursts. It must be exhausting.

[highplainsdem]

35. I'm sure it's exhausting. But they're enabling a maniac who's a threat to the country and

the entire world.

[lapfog_1]

32. Safe bet that there will never be the "USS Donald Trump"

and seeing the John McCain might just cause the Donald to simply implode because deep down, he knows this is the case.

[Iliyah]

33. It would be considered as bad luck.

[Takket]

34. the distinction between "he made the request" and

"we felt the need to do this so he would not have a temper tantrum" is basically meaningless.

[GusBob]

36. So who gets fired?

Waiting

[Blue Owl]

37. His tweet is such an obvious lie

The language used, the desperate appearance of trying to look innocent...

Go fuck yourself Donnie.

[More_Cowbell]

40. I believe him; I bet his staff does this stuff all the time

It actually makes me happy to think that he's seething now because he looks foolish for something that someone else did. Although we all know that if his staff did it, it was to forestall a tantrum.

He thinks that everything he does is right, so he doesn't feel bad when people don't react to his actions. But to be blamed for something that someone else did has to be INFURIATING.

[moondust]

41. Personally involved or not,

this story is weird enough to be a Twilight Zone episode. Gotta wonder what Rod Serling would do with it. Perhaps we'd see Dump get dropped off on what turns out to be a haunted ghost ship with its name covered by a tarp. A PA system starts blasting McCain's voice reciting the names of dictators (as he apparently did at Dump's inauguration, per Sen. Klobuchar). Dump frantically tries calling for help with no answer. The ship slowly sinks with Dump on it going insane, the tarp finally falling off to reveal its name. Fade to black.

"Last Mission"

[BKDem]

43. Very Serling-esque

Great title.

[SouthernProgressive]

45. I think it's every bit as big of a statement...

That it might have been done to avoid a temper tantrum.