Donald Trump continues to stick his foot in his mouth. During a live CSPAN broadcast, airing from the annual Family Leadership Summit, a conference of religious conservatives, Trump was talking about John McCain, when the moderator mentioned that the Arizona senator was a war hero. Trump didn’t agree.
What came out of his mouth resulted in condemnation from both the left and the right.
“He’s not a war hero,” Trump insisted. “I like people that weren’t captured. …He’s a war hero because he was captured – I like people who weren’t captured.”
McCain was shot down during a bombing mission over Hanoi in 1967, captured, and then spent the next 5 years in a tiger cage in the jungle. Trump dodged the Vietnam war draft via 4 student and a medical deferral in 1968.
Trump has his panties in a wad because of statements McCain made in an interview with The New Yorker. About Trump’s campaign, McCain said, “It’s very bad…this performance with our friend out in Phoenix is very hurtful to me because what he did was he fired up the crazies.” McCain was upset that Trump held one of his incendiary rallies in his home state of Arizona.
A few more low blows.
.@SenJohnMcCain should be defeated in the primaries. Graduated last in his class at Annapolis–dummy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 16, 2015
In addition to doing a lousy job in taking care of our Vets, John McCain let us down by losing to Barack Obama in his run for President!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 18, 2015
Afterward, several Republicans spoke out against Trump. Rick Santorum and Rick Perry are also running for president on the GOP ticket.
The difference between @SenJohnMcCain and @realDonaldTrump: Trump shot himself down. McCain and American veterans are true heroes.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) July 18, 2015
When is Donald Trump going to stop embarrassing his friends, let alone the whole country?
— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) July 19, 2015
.@SenJohnMcCain is an American hero & all POW’s deserve our nation’s highest debt of gratitude. @realDonaldTrump‘s comments are disgraceful.
— Rick Perry (@GovernorPerry) July 18, 2015
.@SenJohnMcCain is an American hero, period.
— Rick Santorum (@RickSantorum) July 18, 2015
After the backlash, Trump followed up with a Facebook screed:
I am not a fan of John McCain because he has done so little for our Veterans and he should know better than anybody what the Veterans need, especially in regards to the VA. He is yet another all talk, no action politician who spends too much time on television and not enough time doing his job and helping the Vets. He is also allowing our military to decrease substantially in size and strength, something which should never be allowed to happen.
Furthermore, he was extremely disrespectful to the thousands upon thousands of people, many of whom happen to be his constituents, that came to listen to me speak about illegal immigration in Phoenix last week by calling them “crazies”.
These were not “crazies”—these were great American citizens.
I have great respect for all those who serve in our military including those that weren’t captured and are also heroes.
I want to strengthen our military and take care of our Veterans. I want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN especially for those that serve to protect our freedom. I am fighting for our Veterans!
I’m beginning to think Trump is just trolling us. He’s got to be.
