JOHN MCCAIN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Missteps? This White House has made a few. But apologies? Almost never. White House officials reiterated their position on Monday [5-14-18] that a morbid joke an aide made about John McCain — an 81-year-old, six-term Republican senator with brain cancer — is not the sort of thing that warrants an apology on behalf of this administration. This decision led colleagues and relatives of Mr. McCain to wonder what sort of situation would. It has also drawn consternation from some Republicans, who are waiting for more lawmakers to back up their colleague and demand an apology from the White House. So far, they’ve heard little…Slowly, several of Mr. McCain’s fellow Senate Republicans — including Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, John Cornyn of Texas, John Kennedy of Louisiana and Dan Sullivan of Alaska — began to call for an apology. But relenting to others’ critiques is not the way of the Trump White House. And it is certainly not the way of President Trump. As pugilistic a president as he was a candidate, Mr. Trump’s apologies are rare…This combative ethos has stood firm amid an assortment of insults and missteps.”
– Katie Rogers, “The Trump White House Will Not Apologize About John McCain (or Much Else, Really),” The New York Times online, May 14, 2018