The Difficult Story of Donald Trump and John McCain

It takes an open mind to look into this story from any vantage point. It is not easy. It is the story of Donald Trump’s controversial feud with John McCain that started in 2015. McCain made a comment in reference to Trump and his supporters in an interview in Arizona with The New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza. There is an audio recording of it. CBS News played it on their broadcast. There was a later interview with Trump in Ames, Iowa, conducted by Frank Luntz, where Trump made comments about McCain. A feud between the two ensued. Trump’s comments became the only dominant story.

Bottom Line. At the end of the day, these two men didn’t like each other. McCain was seldomly an ally or supporter of Trump. He made a needless insult towards Trump and Trump supporters that started the feud. Trump was goaded into saying something about McCain’s veteran status when he was trying to express a grievance about McCain that had nothing to do with his veteran status. The VA MISSION Act of 2018 is attributed to both men. Trump has made his thoughts about McCain clear and paid his respects.

Ryan Lizza of the The New Yorker reported from his interview with McCain:

“It’s very bad,” McCain, who was eager to talk about Trump, told me on Monday when I stopped by his Senate office. The Senator is up for reëlection in 2016, and he pays close attention to how the issue of immigration is playing in his state. He was particularly rankled by Trump’s rally. “This performance with our friend out in Phoenix is very hurtful to me,” McCain said. “Because what he did was he fired up the crazies.”

In another interview, McCain claimed his “crazies” comment was a joke…

In the Iowa interview with Donald Trump, Frank Luntz said that Trump responded to McCain’s comments by referring to McCain as a dummy. Luntz insinuated how dare Trump refer to McCain as a dummy, because McCain is a veteran and a war hero. Trump explained that McCain insulted Trump by referring to his base as crazies. Trump then referred to McCain as a loser and a dummy for putting Trump and his followers down. Trump didn’t find McCain’s comments amusing. Luntz continued injecting the words, “war hero,” and putting Trump on the spot by saying he’s a war hero, he’s a war hero. In response to Frank Luntz’ broken record comments, Trump took the bait and replied at first that McCain “is not a war hero,” but then said “he’s a war hero because he was captured,” and then said “I like people that weren’t captured.” Trump then said in the clip, “perhaps he’s a war hero,‘but right now, what we’re talking about is, he [McCain] said some bad things about a lot of people.”

So, first, McCain made a comment that Trump and Trump supporters were causing McCain grief, and McCain referred to supporters as “crazies.” Trump then rebutted those comments. Then, this interviewer, Frank Luntz goaded Trump into making comments about McCain’s veteran status that were irrelevant to what Trump was trying to say, much in the way a race baiter might try to make an issue about race. Trump then cleared it up and said he respects McCain’s and other veterans’ service unequivocally. McCain then claimed the “crazies” comment was a “term of endearment.” Trump went on The O’Reilly Factor and said if there was a misunderstanding, he would take it back. For anyone who does not like Bill O’Reilly, by the way, O’Reilly was very much on McCain’s side on this issue and claimed McCain is not a “bad guy” here.

Trump has acknowledged McCain’s sacrifices, which have their rightful place, and paid his respects. Trump has explained his problems with McCain, which McCain’s sacrifices do not justify or pertain to. Trump didn’t like McCain antagonizing him or his base of voters without provocation. Trump didn’t agree with McCain going back on repealing Obamacare, and didn’t think McCain was doing enough for veterans’ healthcare in the senate in 2015. Trump supported McCain for president in 2008 and raised money for him. Even though McCain said Trump was not welcome at his funeral, Trump approved McCain’s funeral when Trump was president. Trump signed into law the VA MISSION Act of 2018, which reformed veterans’ healthcare and was named partly after McCain. It can be credited to both men. There are too many problems with this feud and Trump’s comments to use it as a talking point against Trump.

There are are a number of rabbit holes to go with McCain here. One could argue that McCain and the media exploited McCain’s and other military men’s service as an unnecessary talking point against Trump after the matter had already been cleared up. McCain also denigrated without provocation a portion of the same country that McCain once swore an oath to defend.

McCain put a label on Trump supporters as “crazies,” some of whom supported McCain in 2008. McCain never apologized for it either. He could have taken the real high road and apologized for his comments about Trump’s campaign. Instead, he decided to virtue signal and exploit historic sacrifices for cheap political talking points. McCain went on MSNBC with a condescending half smile. McCain did a virtue signal tactic, trying to bring his comrades into this talking point and saying they and not him are heroes. Perhaps McCain was still sore about losing the 2008 election and had tension with Trump over Trump’s popularity as the next Republican frontrunner.

When presented with the opportunity, McCain embraced the same media bandwagon that once attacked his choice for running mate. He also fed into the bandwagon hysteria over the Access Hollywood recording when he withdrew his endorsement of Trump. One might suggest that McCain was a sellout.

Can you really blame Trump for being upset with McCain for couriering the Steele Dossier to the FBI from Christopher Steele’s people and not trusting McCain? Let’s consider the antagonism and lack of support from McCain and others as a whole. How would you feel? McCain neglected to be Trump’s ally time and time again and repeatedly chose to be an antagonist. Sure, McCain called out Comey for a double standard, but he was also involved with the dirty disinformation dossier. Sure, McCain endorsed Trump for president at one point, but only until the hysteria over the Access Hollywood tape. Sen. Lindsey Graham also fed into the bandwagon of Trump Derangement Syndrome in 2015, baselessly calling Trump things like racist and xenophobic, and then urged McCain to turn over this dossier. We can only hope that Graham and McCain had no direct role in the corruption of the dossier but we will likely never know if there was a cover up there.

This is way too much of an ax to grind against Trump. Trump cannot be blamed for the tragedies of the 1960’s and 70’s. If anything, LBJ and Nixon are responsible for escalating the Vietnam war. If anything, the media mob, the RINO’s, and the Democrats, all owe a huge debt of apologies to society, Donald Trump, and Sarah Palin for fueling so much hatred for years now. The business model of knocking other politicians and holding onto power has gone too far.

Trump may have said in that one soundbyte that McCain was not a war hero with that interviewer deliberately goading him into it and stirring the pot, but everything else Trump has said has been consistent with paying his respects to McCain and other veterans while also expressing his grievances which really never had anything to do with McCain’s service. McCain’s service also does not make it ok for McCain to insult Trump or Trump supporters, something Frank Luntz attempted to divert into an anti veteran issue.

The alleged “suckers and losers” comment, which Joe Biden so cowardly tried using against Trump again in the first 2024 debate as a cheap political talking point to divert attention away from Biden’s ineffective policies as president, comes second hand from a disgruntled Democrat General who was fired by Trump, unlike the crazies comment which was audio recorded.

Sources

“Crazies” comment

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/john-mccain-has-a-few-things-to-say-about-donald-trump

Term of Endearment Defense

https://www.thewrap.com/john-mccain-says-calling-donald-trump-supporters-crazies-is-a-term-of-endearment/

CBS Episode that Includes Audio of McCain making “Crazies” comment:

https://youtu.be/wyaoF-gkj0o?feature=shared

-“War Hero” Comments (Family Leadership Summit) (See McCain chapter and chapter on vets)

https://youtu.be/f1dVtwfVXx0?feature=shared

Alternate Link:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?327045-5/presidential-candidate-donald-trump-family-leadership-summit

-Bill O’Reilly Interview with Trump on McCain and other topics.