Everybody who’s anybody in American politics spent Saturday mourning the late Senator John McCain at a memorial service held at the Washington National Cathedral.
Donald Trump wasn’t invited. Literally.
Personal invitations were extended to former presidents Obama and Bush, but not to the man who currently occupies the Oval Office. Trump repeatedly maligned the Senator while he was alive, mocking him at rallies and, in an infamous 2015 interview, disparaging his military record.
Trump was not-so-subtly targeted by speakers at the Saturday service for McCain, whose daughter Meghan delivered the following sharp rebuke of the President’s trademark populist slogan during an impassioned speech:
George Bush quite literally called Trump a “bigot” and a “swaggering despot”:
For his part, the real President of the United States said this in his eulogy for the Senator:
“[The] entire McCain memorial – from the words of Lieberman, Kissinger, Bush, Obama and others, to the applause they receive – is a giant subtweet against Trump”, Financial Times U.S. correspondent Edward Luce wrote, adding that “there has never been quite such a spectacle against a sitting president.”
Speaking of a certain “sitting president”, Trump spent Saturday playing golf at his club in Virginia. And while he didn’t manage to saying anything about McCain between holes, he did find plenty of time to shriek at one of America’s mortal geopolitical enemies … Canada.
“There is no political necessity to keep Canada in the new NAFTA deal [and] if we don’t make a fair deal for the U.S. after decades of abuse, Canada will be out”, Trump tweeted, in the middle of McCain’s memorial.
“Congress should not interfere with these negotiations or I will simply terminate NAFTA entirely and we will be far better off”, he added, before lambasting the trade agreement in a truly absurd screed as follows:
Remember, NAFTA was one of the WORST Trade Deals ever made. The U.S. lost thousands of businesses and millions of jobs. We were far better off before NAFTA – should never have been signed. Even the Vat Tax was not accounted for. We make new deal or go back to pre-NAFTA!
On Friday, trade negotiations between the U.S. and Canada broke down following a week of intense wrangling. The Trump administration apparently believed that striking a bilateral deal with Mexico on Monday would force Justin Trudeau to relent. That might have worked, but after the Toronto Star leaked disparaging comments from Trump’s Thursday interview with Bloomberg, the mood soured.
“[I] still can’t believe that Bloomberg violated a firm OFF THE RECORD statement”, Trump shouted on Friday evening. “Will they put out an apology?”
I can answer that: “No.”
Just like Trump won’t apologize for spending Saturday screaming at America’s closest ally while the rest of Washington mourns the death of a veteran, a Senator and a candidate for the same office that Trump is now disgracing on a daily basis.
Obama, the real President of the United States, indeed! Great comment, H! I hope the fake president watched with angry envy and saw many from his own repub party honor a highly respected man. The one camera shot of Princess Ivanka that I saw, I thought she looked stunned and uncomfortable.
It was evident from the speakers, one after the other, there was no love for trump in that crowd but his name was never mentioned, by anyone. Perhaps when it was over and they all left with thoughts of what they saw and heard, they also read the tweets that trump sent out to the entire world, ripping the DOJ and FBI while John McCain was being eulogized with sincere respect.
Perhaps it will help motivate the GOP cowards to end the disgrace infecting the Republican Party.
Meghan McCain for President in 2020!
don’t get carried away — geesh. I feel for her and Cindy too – but realistically, how about someone who could muster up a serious challenge against the repubs? now, take a breath.
What what do you mean “how about someone who could muster up a serious challenge AGAINST the repubs”? The McCains (Meghan included) have always been, and continue to be, Republicans. She would certainly run as a Republican were she to seek office.
It’s pretty incredible that in just two short years, Trump and the Republican majority in Congress have managed to move so far to the right that Meghan McCain could be confused for being a Democrat.
wow – you are 100% correct – John McCain was so neutral – the way it really should be – I literally forgot he was a repub!
However, Meghan cannot compete with other repubs … but having second thoughts now … sure, c’mon Meghan, makes it easy for Democrats to win!
The McCain’s are good people and I respect them all. 😃
Great piece. Thank you. You are a very good writer. I enjoy reading your work. Graphics are awesome too!