It’s been clear Donald Trump hasn’t been a fan of John McCain over the last couple of years and it looks like his grudge against the Senator didn’t end with his death. The President has chosen to not participate as the nation mourns McCain.

First, this past Friday Trump continued to criticize McCain even though his family made it clear he was near death, then The Washington Post reported that Trump nixed a thoughtful statement declaring McCain a hero (instead opting for a brief tweet).

His silence continued yesterday as tributes to the late Senator poured in. From The New York Times:

 “As leaders of both political parties and foreign dignitaries publicly mourned John McCain on Sunday, President Trump conspicuously avoided a national moment of tribute to a senator whose death seemed to be its own metaphor for the demise of civility and unity in the Trump era”

The president did not make even the most cursory public show of respect on Sunday for Mr. McCain, against whom he had continued to indulge a personal grievance even as it was apparent that the Arizona Republican was losing his battle with brain cancer. The president spent much of the day golfing and attacking his usual enemies on Twitter.”

Then today comes another obvious snub as flags at the White House are back up this morning. They flew half-staff for just about a day. The general thought was they would be flown at half-staff at least until McCain’s funeral later this week. In comparison, former President Barack Obama flew them at half-staff for 5 days when Senator Ted Kennedy passed.

McCain will be only the 32nd American to lie in state in the Capitol. Trump will be absent from that.

On Thursday, McCain will be honored with a funeral at Washington’s National Cathedral on Saturday. Former President’s Obama and George W. Bush are expected to deliver eulogies. Again Trump isn’t scheduled to attend, instead Vice President Mike Pence is expected to represent the White House at the solemn event.

Trump does and says a lot of things that are worthy of criticism, but for the first time, he is being scrutinized (fairly) for what he’s NOT doing. NBC’s Steve Benen sums up Trump’s reaction to McCain’s death this way:

“It would’ve cost Trump nothing if the White House had issued a dignified written statement celebrating McCain’s life. The president wouldn’t have had to write it, read it, or even agree with it. The statement would’ve made Trump appear gracious toward an occasional critic.

But the small, petty man in the Oval Office just couldn’t bring himself to even pretend to be dignified.”