President Trump is often criticized for lying, exaggerating or bending the truth to bolster his worldview and political standing. But he’s sticking with the truth when it comes to his low opinion of the late Sen. John McCain.
“I have to be honest: I’ve never liked him much,” Trump told workers at an Ohio tank plant Wednesday. His comments “drew no cheers” from those in the audience, many of them military veterans, reports the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman.
Trump went on to accuse McCain of failing veterans, of getting the U.S. involved in Middle East wars. He even whined about not getting “a thank-you” for approving the use of a military transport to bring McCain’s body from Arizona to Washington.
“In a particularly brazen bit of lying today,” writes Daniel Dale of the Toronto Star, “Trump said McCain didn’t deliver for veterans, unlike him, Trump, the man who got Veterans Choice passed. Choice was passed in 2014 … and McCain was the key Republican legislator behind the bill.” Trump signed the bill into law, but that’s all. By Dale’s count it was “the 60th time Trump has falsely taken credit for creating the Choice program.”
Trump’s remarks — characterized by the Washington Post’s James Hohman as “a five-minute rant” — were just the latest episode in the president’s obsessive criticism of McCain, a Vietnam war hero and POW who died of brain cancer seven months ago, just short of his 82nd birthday.
Today Trump’s criticism is prompting a rare response from McCain’s youngest daughter, Bridget.
Just since last weekend, in speeches and tweets, Trump has repeatedly targeted his former adversary, denouncing McCain for voting against repealing the Affordable Care Act, falsely claiming McCain was “last in his class” at the U.S. Naval Academy, even — with reporters in the Oval Office — telling the puzzled president of Brazil he was “never a fan” of McCain.
“McCain was a frequent critic of the President while he was alive and the President often lashed out at the senator,” says CNN, “once famously saying that McCain … who was held as a prisoner of war for more than five years” after his Navy jet was shot down in Vietnam “was not a war hero.” At the time, Trump said he preferred “people who weren’t captured.”
Even some White House aides and Congressional Republicans were critical of the president’s remarks this week.
“I can’t understand why the President would, once again, disparage a man as exemplary as my friend John McCain: heroic, courageous, patriotic, honorable, self-effacing, self-sacrificing, empathetic, and driven by duty to family, country, and God,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) tweeted on Tuesday.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told reporters Wednesday he likes Trump, but “I don’t like when he says things about my friend John McCain.”
Also Wednesday, CNN reports, Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) called the president’s criticism of McCain “deplorable.”
Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (a Republican) also weighed in saying:
“I just think it’s a shame that the president lets himself down to that kind of level. We will be lucky if everyone in Washington followed McCain’s example, because he represented courage.”
But many say not enough Republicans are speaking out to condone Trump’s behavior.
Meanwhile, Politico quotes a “senior White House official” as saying the president’s aides “are making an effort ‘not to discuss [the matter] in polite company,’” while another official lamented, “Why are we doing this?”
Many Democrats see Trump’s obsession with McCain as an opportunity.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the Senate Democratic leader, says he will soon re-introduce legislation to re-name the Senate Russell Building after McCain.
“Schumer’s office plans to move on their resolution soon,” reports CNN, “but did not indicate an exact timeline for introduction. With Democrats in the minority, Schumer’s office continues working to reach out to Senate Republicans to get support for the measure.”
