Last updated on August 30th, 2018 at 11:21 am
Former active duty officer in the U.S. Air Force, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) is urging Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to defy Trump and honor Senator John McCain with the flag at half-staff as it should be.
Dear @SecPompeo: You served on active duty. As a nation mourns McCain, it would be appropriate to lower the flag to half staff at all @StateDept buildings. I respectfully request you give that order, regardless of the views of @realDonaldTrump. It is the honorable thing to do. https://t.co/yIllKANhMq
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) August 27, 2018
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Even the cabinet is closed confused about honoring McCain. Flag at Energy is half staff. At Agriculture, across the street, flag is at full staff. pic.twitter.com/gs0fr85kcr
— Joe Heim (@JoeHeim) August 27, 2018
Trump has refused to issue a presidential proclamation lowering flags to half-staff in memory of the late Sen. John McCain, so after being lowered over the weekend, the White House flag has been raised to full staff again.
Rep. Lieu currently serves as a Colonel in the Reserves and has won medals like the Air Force Humanitarian Service Medal and multiple Meritorious Service Medals, and thus brings his respect for a fellow service member with him when he urges Pompeo to do the right thing in spite of his boss.
Trump supporters often tell me that in spite of all of Trump‘s faults, they support him because he supports the military. They say this but are unaware and uninterested when I ask them if they are aware of the great effort and support put in by the Obamas and Bidens, the Bidens had a son who served with great honor as well. The Obamas donated part of their income to support the military.
These facts do not register with the Trump supporter who claims to care about the military, and neither did Trump‘s public humiliation of a Gold Star family.
But now here we are, with President Trump and many Republicans spitting on John McCain right after he passed.
It should be odd that a Democratic Representative is trying to push the Republican president to do the right thing to honor the Republican Senator. But it isn’t, because Democrats from the House, Senate and former President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were quick to issue moving statements honoring the Senator.
No president of either party has ever been so petty or low.
In the reaction to Trump‘s pettiness over John McCain we need to realize that this is the reaction of every group whom he has spit upon; for example, the p*ssy hats Republicans mocked were the equivalent of former service members outrage over the way Trump is reacting right now. Sexual assault often causes PTSD similar to what some service members face.
Instead of judging the reaction as the media has been wont to do, the time has come to judge the behavior that is creating the reaction.
Over the weekend I realized it is not that this country is so divided and partisan. It is that we look that way because of the heated reactions to this president from various marginalized groups. Yes, we were divided on issues of race and sexism that that was exploited by the Russians, but in truth we are more united in our values than we appear right now.
Standing up against the kind of hate Trump enacts is not partisan or a divide. It is actually a great act of unity and love for our fellow humans.
I didn’t agree with Sen John McCain on much, but I respected him. Having just watched a loved one lose a family member with the exact same brain cancer, I’m gutted imagining how his family must feel right now with the President behaving this way.
There is simply no empathy or compassion in Trump. He doesn’t support the troops. He supports no one and nothing but the Trump brand, and the Trump brand is trash that spits on an American hero in public right after he has died.
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