World News: OnPolitics Today: Even hero's death brings controversy in the Trump era

Monday, August 27

Photographs, flowers and notes gather at a makeshift memorial to Sen. John McCain outside his office in Phoenix, on Aug. 26, 2018.

A flag, a flip-flop and an American hero

The White House flags goes up and down after McCain's death and Trump announces a new trade deal with Mexico: On Politics Monday.

As Americans say farewell to Arizona Sen. John McCain, President Donald Trump stirred controversy by initially issuing nothing but a brief tweet (and reportedly scrapping a longer statement) after the Vietnam War veteran, longtime lawmaker and 2008 Republican presidential nominee died Saturday from brain cancer.

When the flag atop the White House was raised back to full-staff after just two days, outrage erupted. Veterans groups, including the American Legion, demanded a presidential proclamation honoring the former prisoner of war.

Trump and McCain have had a history of mutual disdain, but the president eventually put their differences aside to issue a proclamation Monday afternoon honoring the late Republican senator and ordering flags at half-staff until McCain's burial.

In his farewell letter, McCain said he "lived and died a proud American." And he included a warning that we "weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries," "hide behind walls rather than tear them down" and "doubt the power of our ideals."

More on the death of Sen. John McCain:

•	The details about McCain's viewing and funeral
•	McCain's biography: An American story
•	Democratic leader wants Senate building named after McCain
•	Bush, Obama and Biden to eulogize McCain
•	McCain to lie in state at U.S. Capitol
•	The brain cancer that killed McCain is hard to treat

From our friends at The Short List:

Trump says NAFTA is finished (or at least the name is)

President Donald Trump had the North American Free Trade Agreement in his crosshairs for years, and on Monday he announced he had taken the massive deal down. The U.S. reached an agreement with Mexico after five weeks of talks to revise parts of NAFTA, which Trump assailed as the " worst economic deal in U.S. history" during the 2016 campaign. Trump said the new agreement would be called the United States-Mexico trade agreement and that "we'll get rid of the name NAFTA ," which has a "bad connotation." But NAFTA is not dead yet. Congress still has to sign off on the deal and it's still uncertain what will happen with Canada, the third party in the trilateral trade pact.