It’s the pettiness that’s so revolting.

The Wall Street Journal reported in May 2019 that the military had worked to obscure the USS John S. McCain ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to a neighboring ship in Japan. It was a decision that apparently stemmed from Trump’s feuds with the decorated war hero and late senator, who was added as a namesake for the ship initially named for his father and grandfather. But the senator had died just nine months prior, rendering the effort particularly bizarre.

And petty, spiteful, childish, ridiculous, contemptible.

It was not fake news, as a batch of newly released emails reinforces and details.

The emails, obtained by Bloomberg News reporter Jason Leopold and by the Wall Street Journal through Freedom of Information Act requests, fill out the story of military officials responding to a request from the White House Military Office. Among the discoveries:

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.”

Nothing is too petty or whiny or infantile for him.