Meghan McCain responds to report that Trump mocked her late father Sen. John McCain ahead of State of the Union address
Meghan McCain shot back at President Donald Trump after he reportedly mocked the success of her late father Sen. John McCain‘s book, just hours before he preached unity at the State of the Union address on Tuesday.
The New York Times reported that in a meeting with network television anchors ahead of his State of the Union speech, Trump called Sen. Chuck Schumer a “nasty son of a b—-” and former Vice President Joe Biden “dumb.”
Trump also reportedly ridiculed the late Sen. John McCain’s 2018 book, “The Restless Wave,” saying “he wrote a book and the book bombed.”
McCain died in August of last year after a year-long public battle with brain cancer. Meghan McCain said the president’s alleged comments are “pathetic and telling.”
The president’s obsession with my father 6 months after his death is pathetic and telling – even at a time when he should be focusing on his message to the American public and the state of our union – the greatness of my father’s life and legacy haunts you. https://t.co/JLgHoZwCKD
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) February 6, 2019
Hours later in his State of the Union address, he called on lawmakers to “reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution.”
On “The View” Wednesday, McCain criticized Trump for his hypocrisy.
“You aren’t being bipartisan,” she said.
“Mere hours earlier [you were] obsessing over people you consider your enemies, so for me it was a Kabuki Theater, virtue signal[ing], the entire speech last night towards his base,” McCain said.
“Please don’t sit here and tell me you’re grasping for bipartisanship… when Chuck Schumer’s ‘a son of a b—-‘ and my father’s book ‘bombed’ and Joe Biden is ‘dumb,’” she added.
The president has a history of making disparaging remarks against the late senator.
In 2015 he said McCain is “not a war hero… because he was captured” at a Family Leadership Summit in Iowa. “I like people who weren’t captured,” Trump said.
Trump called McCain “foul mouthed” in a barbed tweet in 2016 after McCain denounced Trump’s comments in the “Access Hollywood” tape.
The very foul mouthed Sen. John McCain begged for my support during his primary (I gave, he won), then dropped me over locker room remarks!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016
McCain apparently angered the president again in 2017 when he voted against a bill to repeal Obamacare. Trump tweeted that the senator “let Arizona down!”
John McCain never had any intention of voting for this Bill, which his Governor loves. He campaigned on Repeal & Replace. Let Arizona down!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017
The president received criticism after McCain died for not releasing a timely statement on the senator’s passing, and for returning the flag at the White House to full staff less than 48 hours after his death.
