WASHINGTON – One of John McCain s final wishes as he struggled against adevastating brain cancer could not have been more clear: He did not wantDonald Trump to attend his funeral.
The two men never pretended to like each other. It was not just theirclashing personalities or vastly dissimilar backgrounds. Their differenceswere fundamental, their values dramatically at odds, and theirdisagreements public and pointed.
Mr McCain, a United States senator from Arizona for over three decades andformer prisoner of war in Vietnam who ran unsuccessfully for US presidentin 2008, died on Saturday (Aug 25) at the age of 81.
President Trump tweeted on Sunday: “My deepest sympathies and respect goout to the family of Senator John McCain. Our hearts and prayers are withyou!”
When Mr Trump announced his candidacy for the Republican presidentialnomination in June 2015, suggesting that many Mexican immigrants werecriminals and “rapists”, Mr McCain denounced him for using language that”fired up the crazies”.
Mr Trump s response: McCain was a “dummy” who had barely managed tograduate from the US Naval Academy.
Never one to give in, Mr Trump then attacked the former navy pilot overwhat might have seemed his least vulnerable point: the military career -including more than five years as a wounded and tortured prisoner of war inVietnam – for which he received a slew of decorations including the SilverStar, the Legion of Merit and three Bronze Stars.
Mr Trump, who received serial deferments and did not serve in the military,said that Mr McCain was “a war hero (only) because he was captured”,adding, “I like people that weren t captured.”
That comment that drew widespread condemnation, including from severalveterans groups.
Mr McCain s response starkly illustrated the two men s differentcharacters: The senator sought no apology on his own behalf but said thatMr Trump did owe an apology “to the families of those who have sacrificedin conflict” and of those taken prisoner while “serving their country”.
The rise of Mr Trump s populist candidacy in 2016 was widely seen as adisavowal of McCain-style Republicanism and of the more establishmentapproach he took during his own presidential run in 2008.
Eight years later, here was a man who openly professed his love of money,who had avoided military service because of a foot problem he later saidhad healed itself, a man who bragged about greasing the wheels for his NewYork real estate empire by donating to both Democrats and Republicans, aman who, in short, unapologetically flouted the long-established traditionsof American politics and the presidency.
Mr McCain announced that he would instead vote for “some good conservativeRepublican who is qualified to be president”. – APP/AFP