White House lowers US flag back to half-staff for McCain amid pressure

Flags at the White House were initially lowered to half-staff after the Arizona senator died at the age of 81 on Saturday, but returned to full-staff less than 48 hours on Monday, signifying Trump’s sour relations with the Vietnam war “hero.”

That has prompted veteran groups to pressure the administration to show respect to McCain.

“It’s outrageous that the White House would mark American hero John McCain’s death with a two-sentence tweet, making no mention of his heroic and inspiring life,” Joe Chenelly, the executive director of veterans advocacy group AMVETS, said in a statement. "And by lowering flags for not one second more than the bare minimum required by law, despite a long-standing tradition of lowering flags until the funeral, the White House is openly showcasing its blatant disrespect for Senator McCain’s many decades of service and sacrifice to our country as well as the service of all his fellow veterans."

The American Legion, the country's largest wartime veterans service organization, also condemned the move.

"On behalf of the American Legion's two million wartime veterans, I strongly urge you to make an appropriate presidential proclamation noting Senator McCain's death and legacy of service to our nation, and that our nation's flag be half-staffed throughout his internment," Denise Rohan, the national commander of the American Legion, said in a statement.

Later on Monday, the White House once again lowered the flag to half-staff and Trump released a statement, saying that he "signed a proclamation to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff until the day of his interment."

Apart from being one of the most influential players in US Congress, McCain is marketed as a war “hero” at least by US mainstream media and the GOP. 

In reality, the former US presidential candidate, Vietnam war veteran and prisoner of war, is blamed for millions of lives lost amid Washington’s wars around the globe as well as attempts to disrupt peacemaking processes for the sake of gaining profit.

The death of McCain, who had been diagnosed with a glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain tumor, was not much of a surprise yet it exposed division at the core of the GOP, not a well-kept secret of the party in power.

One of the harshest republican critics of President Trump, McCain has apparently banned the commander-in-chief from taking part at his funeral.

Trump, who has already questioned McCain’s  “hero” status, also refused to release a fulsome statement as normally expected in the political arena.

The senior Republican, who has backed pretty much all US interventions, including the Persian Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan, is dead but his shadow still lingers on the Trump administration, whose top officials are behaving differently and praise the deceased.

Defense Secretary James Mattis, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley are among those heaping accolades on the war “hero” despite Trump’s attitude.

"Traditionally, the death of a sitting United States senator would be met with a presidential proclamation and flags flying at half-staff throughout the country until the funeral of the deceased," AMVETS said in a statement. "This follows national tradition, as shown after the deaths of Senators Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd."

"But John McCain was not just a sitting senator," the statement said. "He was a war hero, twice a presidential contender, and a national treasure who devoted his entire adult life to protecting and improving the American way of life."