It is all but unavoidable in the modern Republican Party that Sen. John McCain will be replaced in his various roles by people who are markedly stupider than him. In particular, McCain's role as as head of the Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to now fall to Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, who is primarily known for being one of the dumbest men in the Senate. To put a measuring stick to that: Inhofe is the man who literally argued on the Senate floor that climate change couldn't exist because it still snows in winter.
More alarming than Inhofe's regular adventurism into the brambles of stupidity, however, is his role as obsequious Trump toady. Under Inhofe, there are going to be changes in Senate Republican military policy, and those changes are going to be that whatever Garbage Fire wants, Garbage Fire gets.
Before Trump won the presidency, he invited Inhofe to Trump Tower in New York to discuss military issues. Since Trump assumed office, Inhofe has praised Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and has praised Trump’s nuclear talks with North Korea. [...]Inhofe will also likely hold hearings on President Donald Trump’s call to establish Space Force, a military branch dedicated to space issues.
John McCain was known for being occasionally unpleasant to Donald Trump. This, in particular, is something Jim Inhofe will not stand for. McCain's body was still warm when Inhofe blamed the departed senator for angrying up Trump's blood, making it only natural that Trump would throw a pissy little tantrum over whether or not the flags would lowered to half-staff.
"Well, you know, frankly, I think that John McCain is partially to blame for that because he is very outspoken. He disagreed with the President in certain areas and wasn't too courteous about it," Inhofe said.
You can't say Inhofe doesn't represent his party. You cannot claim the planet is warming if it is still snowing on any part of it; and you cannot expect the infantile Republican president to oversee even the most rote pageantry of the job if it is for the benefit of someone who was discourteous. All hail Dear Leader, the never-placated man-child.