When Donald Trump made a trip to Japan in April 2019, a number of sources reported that he required a US Navy vessel, the USS John S. McCain, to cover up its name because Trump did not want to see the name of his political nemesis adorning a ship. (The ship was originally named for the senator’s father and grandfather; the ship was rededicated in 2018 to add Senator McCain to the honor.) The White House, in its inimitable way, whipped up its self-victimization machine to claim the Mainstream Media was targeting Trump to portray him as a sore loser and bitter, bitter man.
Well, guess what? Trump *is* a sore loser and a bitter, bitter man. Bloomberg reporter Jason Leopold had been pushing a FOIA request for information regarding the incident. They were released today, and they included the line first reported by the Associated Press in 2018: “USS John McCain needs to be out of sight.”
A string of emails documents the discussion of what needs to happen with the ship. At first, one person on the team doubts the veracity of the request and noted someone was checking on its validity. There are questions about the logistics of fulfilling the request. At one point, an unnamed person responds with one sentence: “This just makes me sad.”