Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has long been laid to rest after succumbing to brain cancer in 2018. Still, former President Donald Trump opted to take another shot at the longtime Arizona Republican and 2008 presidential candidate. With the Iowa Caucuses upon us, Trump has been making his final pushes in a state he should win handily over his competition on January 15.
The former president mostly torched Joe Biden during his visit to Iowa but had to deliver this jab against McCain over his opposition to the so-called skinny repeal of Obamacare, one of the last significant votes the Arizona senator cast before his passing. Trump did not hold back (via Associated Press):
Former President Donald Trump, campaigning in Iowa Saturday, marked the third anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol by casting the migrant surge on the southern border as the “real” insurrection.
Just over a week before the Republican nomination process begins with Iowa’s kickoff caucuses, Trump did not explicitly acknowledge the date.
[…]
Trump’s remarks in Newton in central Iowa came a day after Biden delivered a speech near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, where he cast Trump as a grave threat to democracy and called Jan. 6 a day when “we nearly lost America — lost it all.”
[…]
Trump spent much of the day assailing Biden, casting him as incompetent and the real threat to democracy. But he also attacked fellow Republicans, including the late Sen. John McCain of Arizona, whose “no” vote derailed GOP efforts to repeal former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law.
“John McCain, for some reason, couldn’t get his arm up that day,” said Trump of McCain, who was shot down over Vietnam in 1967 and spent 5½ years as a prisoner of war. The injuries he suffered left him unable to lift his arms over his head for the rest of his life. His daughter, Meghan McCain, responded on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, calling Trump an expletive and her father an “American hero.”
Earlier Saturday, Trump courted young conservative activists in Des Moines, speaking to members of Run GenZ, an organization that encourages young conservatives to run for office.
Trump’s campaign is hoping to turn out thousands of supporters who have never caucused before as part of a show of force aimed at denying his rivals momentum and demonstrating his organizing prowess heading into the general election.
Trump in Iowa: “If it weren’t for John McCain, we’d have something better than Obamacare. John McCain, for some reason, couldn’t get his arm up that day.”
— Ben Siegel (@bensiegel) January 6, 2024
Bad vote by McCain, ugly comment by Trump — still mocking a dead man for the torture injuries the enemy inflicted upon him in war. https://t.co/JxtJkI2mIw
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) January 6, 2024
Again, is this shocking? Trump is indelicate, but that’s also part of his appeal; he’s not a swamp creature. He is the definition of outside the Beltway, but that was in 2016. As a former president, he can’t recycle that script, and I think he knows that. In the meantime, if you’re on Trump’s bad side and enter his stream of consciousness on the stump, living or dead, you’re going to get the hatchet chucked at you.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member