I wish John McCain had stuck around long enough to see Donald Trump brought to justice

Every living American president, with the exception of Donald Trump, has issued a formal statement on the passing of Senator John McCain. According to reporting out of the White House today, Trump’s communications staff had drafted a statement, but the President, objecting to their choice to refer to McCain as “a hero,” rejected it, opting to instead just tweet our condolences to his family. Mark Corallo, a longtime Republican strategist and former spokesman for Trump’s legal team, called the break with precedent “atrocious.” But this is the world that we live in.

[Shortly after tweeting his brief acknowledgment of McCain’s passing, Donald Trump then went on social media a rampage, posting about his many successes, and how popular he is, clearly angered by the positive media coverage of John McCain’s accomplishments as a statesman, and the multiple mentions of how McCain had requested Obama to speak at his funeral. “Mainstream media tries to rewrite history to credit Obama for Trump accomplishments,” he said in one. “Over 90% approval rating for your all time favorite (I hope) President within the Republican Party and 52% overall,” he said in another, apparently proud of the fact that he has 48% disproval rating.]

To be fair, Trump, who once attacked McCain for, of all things, being captured during wartime, could have said worse about the Senator. Oleg Morozov, a member of the Russian parliament, issued a formal statement about McCain’s death, saying, “The enemy died.” [It’s funny the extent to which Trump is always in lockstep with the Russians, isn’t it?]

For what it’s worth, I don’t put McCain on a pedestal. While it’s true that he cast the deciding vote to save the Affordable Care Act and defended Barack Obama from the attacks of racists and conspiracy theorists, he also unleashed Sarah “I read all of them” Palin upon the American political landscape, naming her as his running mate back in 2008, and thereby opening the Pandora’s box of idiocracy that would give us the Tea Party, Donald Trump and QAnon. But, yes, he did have the courage to stand up to Trumpism, and he should be praised for that. He could have given into the dark side, like every other Republican who chose to remain in Congress, but he chose to fight it instead, and he’ll be missed for that… I just wish that he could have hung around long enough to see Donald Trump and the other Russian cutouts in our government like Rand Paul brought to justice.

Here’s hoping that, when McCain passed, some of his courage migrated over to the likes of Jeff Flake, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Bob Corker, who, while constantly making statements about how troubled they are by Donald Trump and the direction of the GOP, seem to be unaware that, as U.S. Senators, they’re in a position to stop it.

This entry was posted in Politics, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

30 Comments

  1. ABC
    Posted August 27, 2018 at 8:40 am | Permalink

    In break with precedent, the White House flag is no longer at half-staff after John McCain’s death. https://abcn.ws/2PInl8G

  2. NYT
    Posted August 27, 2018 at 8:49 am | Permalink

    President Trump didn’t make even the most cursory public show of respect for John McCain.

  3. Chris Hayes by proxy
    Posted August 27, 2018 at 8:51 am | Permalink

    Trying to imagine the scene at the WH this morning when the order was conveyed to put the flag back up to full staff.

    I think it may be, quite literally, the pettiest thing I’ve ever seen.

    https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/1034066758439714818

  4. Eel
    Posted August 27, 2018 at 9:12 am | Permalink

    I’m waiting for the heroic EOS, who never served a day in his life, to drop by and once again say that John McCain collaborated with the North Vietnamese, calling him “songbird”.

  5. Meta
    Posted August 27, 2018 at 9:28 am | Permalink

    To your point.

    NPR: “How Sarah Palin Paved The Way For Donald Trump”

    When Sarah Palin endorsed Donald Trump for president this week, it was a surprise move, but one that seemed perfectly logical.

    In fact, Donald Trump’s rise can be seen as a natural extension of the kind of politics that Palin herself embraced after her unsuccessful run for vice president — combining populism, rage and celebrity.

    Eight years ago, Sarah Palin was still unknown to the vast majority of Americans outside of her home state. But when Republican presidential nominee John McCain plucked the Alaska governor from obscurity to be his running mate in 2008, a force of nature in Republican politics was unleashed.

    From her very first moments on the national stage, it was clear that Sarah Palin was not your typical politician. Despite a relative lack of experience, she delivered a blockbuster performance in her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in September of 2008.

    Some of her best lines were ad-libbed, including her shoutout to hockey moms like herself all across the country.

    “I love those hockey moms,” she said. “You know they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.” Even her detractors had to admit is was a great moment.

    A conservative superstar was born.

    The final months of the presidential campaign that year would provide glimpses of the vice presidential candidate’s future as a political rabble-rouser who wouldn’t shy away from controversy or hardball rhetoric.

    She keyed in on Barack Obama’s association with Chicago college professor William Ayers, who was a founder of the radical organization the Weather Underground in the 1960s. The group carried out bombings of government buildings as protests against the Vietnam War, which they say were targeted to avoid injury.

    On the stump in 2008, Palin said, “Our opponent is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country.”

    Obama handily defeated the McCain-Palin ticket, but in many ways that gave birth to the Tea Party. And Palin was exactly what the movement needed.

    She was the keynote speaker at a National Tea Party Convention in Nashville, Tenn., in early 2010, urging attendees to shake things up.

    “The Tea Party is not a top-down operation,” she told the crowd. “It’s a ground-up call to action that is forcing both parties to change the way they’re doing business, and that’s beautiful.” She was greeted with cheers and chants of “Run Sarah, Run.”

    Activist William Temple was certainly enamored. “She’s the strongest man in the Republican Party,” he told NPR that day. “If I can get close enough, I’ll give her a kiss.”

    Meanwhile, Donald Trump watched Palin’s rise as she channeled — and fueled — the anger felt by many voters toward Washington. Many of these voters described President Obama as a socialist, a Muslim or not American.

    On that last point, Trump was relentless. He repeatedly doubted that Obama was born in the U.S. He questioned documents showing that the president was born in Honolulu, Hawaii.

    Trump asserted in a 2011 interview with NBC that Obama “doesn’t have a birth certificate or he hasn’t shown it. He has what’s called a certificate of live birth,” and for Trump that wasn’t proof enough.

    As Trump promoted the so-called “birther” movement, Palin cheered him on, telling Greta Van Susteren on Fox News, “I respect what he’s doing in putting his money where his mouth is. He’s actually investigating his speculation there on Obama’s birth certificate.”

    Read more:
    https://www.npr.org/2016/01/23/464068087/how-sarah-palin-paved-the-way-for-donald-trump

  6. Mr. X
    Posted August 27, 2018 at 9:48 am | Permalink

    I was going to leave this comment;”McCain didn’t question Obama’s nationality, but he didn’t have to. He hired Sarah Palin to do that.”

    I looked it up, though, and Palin didn’t start making birther comments until December 2009, when she said it’s “fair game” to question Obama’s birth. “I think the public rightfully is still making it an issue,” she said.

  7. Concerned Michiganian
    Posted August 27, 2018 at 9:54 am | Permalink

    It wasn’t an issue because McCain was born in Panama!

    #Bernie2020 #BlueWave2018

  8. Dave Morris
    Posted August 27, 2018 at 10:00 am | Permalink

    McCain proposed and shepherded the Magnitsky Act through on behalf of Bill Browder, locking up the foreign assets of Russian oligarchs and most likely a lot of Putin’s foreign investments as well. At some point we will learn that the flow of that dirty Russian cash was Trump’s gravy train.

    In that context, it makes sense that Trump has no love for McCain. Just another instance of him showing his allegiance to the Russians as a thank you for them making him rich.

  9. EOS
    Posted August 27, 2018 at 1:19 pm | Permalink

    Sorry Eel,

    I served 3 years, and was honorably discharged. Professionally trained to use an assault rifle to defend our country. When he was captured, they offered to let him go, but he refused. Some think that makes him a hero. But that’s part of the standard training that every soldier undergoes in Basic. http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/readings/code_of_conduct.htm

    McCain was not held in high regard by conservatives. He had a higher approval rating among Democrats than Republicans. I didn’t care for him after the Keating 5, and was further disappointed by the gang of 8. Being the deciding vote on the Obamacare revocation was more of the same. He showed his true colors by getting the Republican nomination to run for president, and then giving up halfway through the campaign.

    I pray for his survivors and I am thankful that he died too late to put the seat up for grabs until 2020.

  10. anonimal
    Posted August 27, 2018 at 2:19 pm | Permalink

    @EOS
    That’s the same bullshit that internet obsessed alt-righters come up with. What lame ass medical excuse did you come up with to get you out? I knew pussy’s like you, who go on to brag about their “honorable discharge”, which basically means you jumped the high bar of not raping anyone and not being an addict. I’d bet $1k that you never fired that thing in combat (“professionally trained to use an assault rifle” lmao).

    Not taking an out is not the same as surrendering. You know that, you are just latching on to some lame ass theory you found on reddit. He made a choice to stay with his fellow men, and he has been honored for that decision rightly. Others would have made another choice, and not been wrong in it, but it wouldn’t have been courageous.

  11. Kit
    Posted August 27, 2018 at 2:35 pm | Permalink

    Here’s a poll from The Economist that Trump likely won’t be tweeting.

    41% of Americans name Trump as being the worst President in American History.

    https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-worst-president-ever-41-percent-americans-say-new-poll-1091223

  12. EOS
    Posted August 27, 2018 at 2:54 pm | Permalink

    Anonimal,

    It’s obvious that you never served. If a soldier does accept favored treatment, he could be court-martialed. Doesn’t often happen, but it is possible. Not accepting favored treatment is what a soldier is ordered to do. It would destroy the morale of the other soldiers. POW’s are given some slack, especially if they are tortured. I didn’t say he surrendered- I said he didn’t leave when he was given the opportunity. I don’t know what the hell you are talking about as being alt-right bullshit. Every soldier who makes it through basic training has to memorize the Code of Conduct.

  13. Fake News
    Posted August 27, 2018 at 5:25 pm | Permalink

    I am calling bullshit on EOS’ “military service.”

  14. Ypsidoodledandy
    Posted August 27, 2018 at 5:59 pm | Permalink

    Well, here are a couple of further critical articles about the public life of Mr. McCain. I never trusted him after he misused the power of his office with the other Keating Five Senators. Many thousands of people were hurt by that, not to mention taxpayers.

    I do agree with one quote I read when Thatcher died:

    “People praising Thatcher’s legacy should show some respect for her victims. Tasteless.”(David Wearing, who I don’t otherwise know anything about).

    https://theintercept.com/2018/08/27/hold-the-plaudits-john-mccains-2008-campaign-paved-the-way-for-donald-trump/

    https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/08/25/sen-john-mccain-republican-war-hawk-dead-81

  15. AP
    Posted August 27, 2018 at 6:54 pm | Permalink

    BREAKING: White House moves flag on mansion back to half-staff after widespread criticism of raising it during mourning for McCain.

  16. Anonymous
    Posted August 27, 2018 at 8:14 pm | Permalink

    “No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant,” McCain said of Trump’s performance during this past July’s summit with Putin in Helsinki.

  17. Jean Henry
    Posted August 28, 2018 at 5:28 am | Permalink

    EOS willingness to dismiss McCains sacrifices is a stunning example of her relentless narrative bias. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’d take a court marshall over 3 more years of torture and starvation any day of the week. I looked and have found very few instances of the rule EIS points to leading to military court conviction except in the context of a much larger crime. As always, her perspective is parroted from the standard alt right media sources. The ones she says she doesn’t read but occasionally links.

    As palate cleanser, this was a good balanced take on McCain.
    https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a22831597/john-mccain-politics-dead-81/

  18. M
    Posted August 28, 2018 at 7:04 am | Permalink

    McCain certainly looks better in the wake of Trumpism. He was flawed to be sure. He spoke out in favor of Confederate monuments, and he voted against the MLK holiday. Afterward, though, he said that he was wrong about both. And I think that’s what appeals to people… the fact that he was willing to say that he was wrong, and grow from mistakes. His final letter to the American people, which was read yesterday, started with, “I have made mistakes, but I hope my love for America will be weighed favorably against them.” The letter then went on to push back against racism, walls, and tribalism. But, yeah, he was flawed. He gave us Palin and helped lead us into an unnecessary, deadly and costly war in Iraq. Still, though, I long for the days when we faced adversaries who were thoughtful, respectful, and had a moral line that they refused to cross.

  19. YetiSpagetti
    Posted August 28, 2018 at 7:46 am | Permalink

    I guess I woke in bizarro world today where people are heaping praise on a warmonger piece of trash like McCain. Good riddance!

  20. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted August 28, 2018 at 3:22 pm | Permalink

    It’s true. That guy could SING!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ52sDW7raM&frags=pl%2Cwn

  21. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted August 28, 2018 at 3:28 pm | Permalink

    Another terrible loss for music lovers everywhere.

  22. site admin
    Posted August 28, 2018 at 3:39 pm | Permalink

    And Trump lied about that approval rating.

    “The Wall Street Journal and NBC News poll the president quoted actually says his overall approval rating is 44 percent and his disapproval rating is 52 percent.”

    https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-misquotes-approval-rating-cites-disapproval-rating_us_5b83eec6e4b0729515149f53

  23. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted August 28, 2018 at 4:08 pm | Permalink

    Probably a sly dig at fake polls there. You know damn well they are. They had Clinton winning easily right up until we voted Trump in. Wikileaks published campaign emails actually instructing pollsters to overrepresent dems.

  24. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted August 28, 2018 at 4:19 pm | Permalink

    Come on, Yeti – all together now! With the group:

    Bomb bomb bomb
    Bomb bomb Iran!

    Bomb bomb bomb
    Bomb bomb Iran!

  25. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted August 28, 2018 at 4:20 pm | Permalink

    Don’t you like singing? Hahahaha!

  26. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted August 28, 2018 at 4:28 pm | Permalink

    McCain shopped that phony dirt around to try to undermine our President, yours and mine that we elected. Too bad he can’t be tried for treason now like he should have been.

  27. Jean Henry
    Posted August 28, 2018 at 9:16 pm | Permalink

    You are a sick fuck, HW.

  28. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted August 29, 2018 at 8:28 am | Permalink

    Too bad you are just talking lame shit. You don’t even have a rationale.

  29. wobblie
    Posted September 14, 2018 at 12:01 pm | Permalink

    It looks like Mueller finally has the witness that he needs.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/manafort-plans-to-plead-guilty-to-second-set-of-charges/2018/09/14/a1541068-b5c9-11e8-a7b5-adaaa5b2a57f_story.html?utm_term=.7c1960b22cea

    Just in time for the election, expect one of the wars to get much hotter as DTrump’s tail wags the dog. It almost reminds me of the day Lewinsky’s dress was made public.

    Just for those who don’t remember or are too young, On August 18, 1998 Special Prosecutor Starr acquired a DNA sample from Bill Clinton. On August 20, 1998 Clinton bombed Sudan. On September 24, 1998 the US House began Impeachment proceedings against Clinton.

    Manafort may be Trump’s Lewinsky.

  30. Eel
    Posted September 14, 2018 at 12:32 pm | Permalink

    “Manafort may be Trump’s Lewinsky.”

    I hope Manafort saved the dress.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Connect

BUY LOCAL... or shop at Amazon through this link Banner Initiative Steve