Real estate mogul, reality show host, and all-around motormouth Donald Trump’s brash rhetoric reached new heights yesterday when he took a shot at John McCain’s status as a prisoner of war – a move that drew sharp and immediate condemnation from across the Republican spectrum — including calls for him to quit the 2016 race.
“He’s not a war hero,” Trump, speaking at a conference of religious conservatives, said of the candidate who spent more than five years as a prisoner in a North Vietnam war camp. “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
Trump went on to insult McCain’s academic achievements at the U.S. Naval Academy. At a subsequent news conference, he said McCain “has not done enough for the veterans in this country.”
The businessman and reality TV star, who entered the GOP race last month, has dominated media coverage for weeks with controversial comments on immigration and unflinching criticism of other candidates. For the past month, Republican leaders have cringed privately at Trump’s inflammatory comments about undocumented immigrants from Mexico and have been aghast at his summer surge to the top of the polls. But they have been reluctant or afraid to condemn a candidate whose outbursts have proven both brash and unpredictable.
Trump, of course, is no stranger to inflammatory rhetoric and hasn’t hesitated to attack his fellow Republicans, including Jeb Bush, the establishment favorite who has seen Trump pull even or surpass him in recent national polls. Still, Trump’s latest swing at McCain is a good deal bigger than the ones he’s taken at Bush about his negotiating skills, and touches on a group of Americans—veterans—that tend to be off-limits from political criticism. As a result, his jab at McCain provides an opening for Trump’s rivals to criticize him without having to navigate more fraught territory like immigration reform.
Trump received multiple deferments that allowed him to skirt service in the Vietnam War.
During a news conference after his appearance, Trump did not apologize but tried to clarify his remarks: “If a person is captured, they’re a hero as far as I’m concerned. I don’t like the job John McCain is doing in the Senate because he is not taking care of our veterans.”
He later tweeted:
Captured or not, all our soldiers are heroes!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 18, 2015
And posted a longer clarification on Facebook:
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…
Posted by Donald J. Trump on Saturday, 18 July 2015
McCain announced in April that he would seek a sixth term in the Senate. He will be 80 by Election Day, but said he is in great shape and has much work to do in the Senate.