'The View’ Host Meghan McCain Responds to Donald Trump’s ‘Painful’ Comments on Father John McCain, Veterans

Daniel S. Levine

09/04/2020 12:18 am EDT

The View co-host Meghan McCain responded to the latest report on President Donald Trump's thoughts about her father, the late Sen. John McCain, calling Trump's continuing remarks "painful" and "triggering." On Thursday, The Atlantic reported that Trump called Sen. McCain a "f— loser" after his death in August 2018. Just last week, McCain and her family marked the two-year anniversary of Sen. McCain's death at 81, following a battle with brain cancer.

"I just got through two years without my Dad a few days ago," McCain wrote in her first tweet late Thursday. "The loss is still incredibly painful and raw. No one is more acutely aware of how vile and disgusting Trump has been to my family, it is still hard to understand - America knows who this man is." McCain said Trump's comments about her father "never stops being incredibly painful, triggering, and it rips off new layers of grief that wreak havoc on my life." She added, "I wouldn't wish any of it on my worst enemy. I truly pray for peace for my family, our grief, and for this country."

On Thursday night, The Atlantic published a report on Trump's thoughts on veterans, including details about Trump's feelings around McCain's death. After McCain's death, Trump allegedly said his administration was "not going to support that loser's funeral" and was angry that trump saw flags lowered to half-staff, three sources told The Atlantic. "What the f— are we doing that for? Guy was a f— loser," Trump reportedly told aides.

Donald Trump's Response

The White House called The Atlantic's reporting false, although the Associated Press independently verified some of the reporting. Trump also took to Twitter to dispute the reporting on his feelings about McCain. The president claimed he "never called" McCain a "loser" and called the reporting "more made up Fake News given by disgusting & jealous failures in a disgraceful attempt to influence the 2020 Election!"

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However, Trump did call McCain a "loser" on video. In July 2015, when Trump was running for the Republican presidential nomination, Trump called McCain, who survived over five years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War, a "dummy" and did not agree McCain was a war hero. "He's not a war hero," Trump said at the time. "He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured." Trump later added, "He's a war hero because he was captured. OK, I believe — perhaps he's a war hero." Trump continued criticism McCain after he took office, especially after McCain voted against the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. McCain asked that Trump not attend his funeral, while both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama delivered eulogies.

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