Speaking at her father’s memorial service at Washington’s National Cathedral this Saturday, Meghan McCain, took a veiled swipe at a slogan perpetuated by President Trump, telling the audience that in John McCain’s eyes, America was already great.
“We gather here to mourn the passing of American greatness,” she said. “The real thing, not cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the sacrifice he gave so willingly.”
“The America of John McCain is, yes, the America of Vietnam, fighting the fight, even in the most grim circumstances, even in the most distant, hostile corner of the world, standing for the life and liberty of other peoples in other lands,” Meghan said.
“The America of John McCain is generous and welcoming and bold. She’s resourceful, confident, secure. She meets her responsibilities. She speaks quietly because she’s strong. America does not boast because she has no need to. The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because America was always great.”
"The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again, because America was always great." pic.twitter.com/XcWmdteX8a
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) September 1, 2018
Her word were met with applause from the bipartisan audience.
Meghan, a host on ABC’s The View, has been an outspoken defender of her father, especially in light of President Trump’s repeated attacks on him.
“My father was a great man, a great warrior, a great American and I admired him for all of these thing, but I loved him because he was a great father,” she said.
Meghan shared personal stories about her dad, one being about the time she fell off a horse and broke her collarbone. John McCain, who spent more than five years being tortured as a Prisoner of War in Vietnam, told her to be strong and reminded her, “Nothing is going to break you.”
“For the rest of my life, whenever I’d fall down, I’d get back up, whenever I am hurt I drove on, whenever I am brought low, I rise,” she said.
“John McCain was not defined by prison, by the Navy, by the Senate, by the Republican Party or by any single one of the deeds in his absolutely extraordinary life. John McCain was defined by love.”
Watch her full eulogy below:
Featured image via screen grab
