On Nov. 27, a White House ceremony intended to honor three of the many Navajo Code Talkers who proved to be vital resources in the Pacific Theater during World War II turned controversial.

As he’s done in the past, President Trump managed to sneak in an attack on one of his main political rivals, Elizabeth Warren, calling her ‘Pocahontas,’ a term he began referring to the Massachusetts senator as during the 2016 campaign.

Although this sort of behavior isn’t a rarity at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue these days, it was incredibly disrespectful, and there should be outcry from both sides of the aisle in opposition of this latest event.

To call Warren ‘Pocohontas’ alone is insulting enough, but to make such a racially insensitive remark in front of actual Native Americans whose efforts, along with many others, aided the U.S. war effort during World War II, is an abomination to the presidency itself.

The Navajo Code Talkers were recruited by the United States military to create top-secret coded messages that were used as means of communication for different units during combat.

According to The National Museum of the American Indian, the Marine Corps, based on the previous success of the Choctaw and other American Indians transmitting battle messages during World War I, decided to do the same, recruiting up to 400 Navajo Code Talkers from 1941 to 1942 and even creating a Code Talking school as the code was further developed.

Training was undergone to learn the coding system itself, as well as how to communicate effectively and efficiently.

Some Code Talkers were drafted, while others enlisted. Many lied about their age to join, with some as young as 15 sneaking into the ranks.

These were people that, just like any other soldier, risked their lives for a country that treated them horrendously in the past (it’s ironic that the president delivered these insulting remarks while standing under the portrait of Andrew Jackson, who signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830), and to say something so hurtful at a celebration of the service that these Code Talkers performed for our nation was difficult to watch.

It showed that the president, no matter what you think of him, still seeks out any chance possible to land a blow to a political opponent and cannot contain his pension to veer off-topic and go on endless tangents that lack substance and, in this case, any decency whatsoever.

The president continues to create unnecessary controversy and headlines around himself in a time where he should be trying to sell the various policy reforms he’s trying to push through Congress and the Senate.

Could this horrible moment have been strategically done to turn some attention away from the tax reform debate that was raging in Washington earlier this past week? Or does the president simply lack the awareness and a social conscience?

With Trump, it’s anybody’s guess.

However, it’s undeniable that he has to start acting more presidential.

President Trump’s racially crass remark towards a United States senator in the presence of Native American war heroes from World War II was downright wrong. Add a looming potential nuclear conflict with North Korea along with other pertinent matters to the conversation, and Trump’s comments seem even more petty and ridiculous.

This is an issue and a particular instance that, despite the huge party divisions in this country, all Americans should be embarrassed about.

The president needs to grow up and stop creating conflict after needless conflict for himself and his administration to handle.

Until he does so, he won’t be able to ‘Make America Great Again.’