Contrary to Trump’s “fake news” whine, newly released emails prove that his White House went to great pains to keep him from getting triggered by the sight of the USS John S. McCain during his 2019 trip to Japan.

You may recall that in 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported that the White House issued a directive to the Navy, in advance of Trump’s trip, that the ship be kept “out of sight.” A tarp was hung over the ship’s name, the ship was moved to obscure it and the sailors, whose caps bear its name, were given the day off.

The ship was originally named for Sen. John McCain’s father and grandfather but his name was added before his 2018 death. McCain was already dead by the time Trump went to Japan but, apparently, his staff believed that the guy who got five deferments from military service would not be able to handle seeing the name of his former war-hero antagonist on a ship.

Trump first denied knowing anything about the plan but did not deny the report. Later, he tweeted, “Looks like the story was an exaggeration, or even Fake News - but why not, everything else is!”

Three years after the event, i.e. yesterday, the Pentagon responded to FOIA requests by journalists Rebecca Ballhaus and Jason Leopold about this. As you may have guessed, the released emails back up the reporting, not Trump.

Aaron Blake highlighted some of the emails in The Washington Post:

• They show military officials saying repeatedly that this was a White House request, but also that officials didn’t want to put it in writing.
• At one point, a military official was apparently so taken aback by the request that the person asked that it be confirmed. “I could see that becoming a Tweet,” the official added.
• Another military official responded the next morning by saying, “This just makes me sad.”

The emails also show that Vice Adm. Phillip G. Sawyer recommended undoing the attempts to disguise the ship. The tarp was taken down and a barge that had been placed so as to block the name was moved. It’s not clear if the sailors lost their day off.

The Navy had issued a statement saying that the name of the ship had not been obscured during Trump’s visit “but without acknowledging that it had been previously, and deliberately so,” Blake notes.

This incident is outrageous on its face but it also shows how much time and energy the Trump White House spent trying to keep their boss from getting angry rather than, say, improving the lives of the people they were supposed to serve.