Speaking on Meet The Press, Mulvaney said neither he nor the president was aware of the request but it was “not unreasonable” for “some 23- or 24-year-old person” who works in the White House advance team to call on the Navy to move the USS John S. McCain.

The destroyer-class ship named after the grandfather and father of late Arizona Senator John McCain, whom Trump famously did not get along with, is part of the Seventh Fleet and based in Japan. One White House staffer was concerned the mere sight of the vessel would irritate the president during his recent visit to Japan, and put in a request to the Navy to move it to a less conspicuous spot, but was refused.

“The president's feelings towards the former senator are well known,” Mulvaney noted, when defending the request to find a better backdrop than the naval vessel. He said no one would be fired over the incident.

Twitter users of all political persuasions were quick to respond to Mulvaney’s comments, with some agreeing that the issue is a “non-news item” and others accusing him of attempting to fob the controversy off on a younger colleague.

“Mick Mulvaney and I apparently have totally different standards as to what's reasonable,” one critic tweeted.

Numerous people simply found his comments compounded what they saw as a disrespectful request to the military.

Some were just concerned about who is really running the country, asking if it’s genuinely in the hands of 23- or 24-year-olds, and wondering if Trump’s daughter Tiffany or son Don Jr. had made the Navy call.

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