This Tuesday, President Trump tweeted a message recognizing Prisoner of War Recognition Day, but past comments Trump has made about John McCain‘s time as a POW didn’t go unmentioned in the comments, especially by the late Arizona Senator’s daughter, Meghan McCain.
“On National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day, we honor the Americans captured and imprisoned by foreign powers while carrying out their duties to defend this great Nation,” Trump tweeted.
Unsurprisingly, the thread that opened up beneath Trump’s tweets was full of references to McCain.
sorry, I like people who didn't dodge the draft because their fathers bribed a doctor to fake a medical report and give them bone spurs as an excuse
— born miserable (@bornmiserable) April 9, 2019
Does he not see the irony?
— Blue🌤Crose (@gustopher1) April 9, 2019
How about McCain?
— Paul van der Meer (@Paul_VanDerMeer) April 9, 2019
CNN and HuffPost contributor Donté Stallworth included a video of Trump’s original comments denigrating McCain’s service in his reply:
“I like people that weren’t captured, ok?” pic.twitter.com/ssRr6cRYHU
— Donté Stallworth (@DonteStallworth) April 9, 2019
But perhaps the most biting retort came from Meghan McCain, who referenced Trump’s attacks on her father directly.
No one believes you care about prisoners of war and “people who get captured”. https://t.co/ZkKEjI01XD
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) April 9, 2019
“No one believes you care about prisoners of war and “people who get captured,” she wrote.
In a followup tweet, McCain wrote: “Not that we should expect anything less but it is nothing short of a JOKE Trump would tweet about National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day. In life and in death he has no respect for the sacrifice given by POW’s. Save it, we’re not interested in hearing any of it from you.”
The bad feelings harken back to 2015 when Trump said McCain was “not a war hero” because he had been taken prisoner during his time serving as a pilot in the Vietnam war. “I like people that weren’t captured,” Trump said at the time.
As The Washington Post points out, Trump made a similar attack on McCain back in 1999 to then-CBS News anchor Dan Rather.
“Does being captured make you a hero?” Trump asked. “I don’t know. I’m not sure.”
McCain died in August after a battle with glioblastoma, an incurable form of brain cancer.
Featured image: screen grab/The View
