Meghan McCain took a few jabs at President Donald Trump during her eulogy at her father’s funeral.
McCain has eulogized her father, Sen. John McCain, on a number of platforms since his passing early this week. But she did not shy away from his disagreements with the president, and encouraged her father’s supporters to stay optimistic.
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Saturday morning’s funeral service was no different, according to reporters on the scene.
Meghan McCain: “The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because America was always great.” pic.twitter.com/tmaJaTQrdd
— Hardball (@hardball) September 1, 2018
“The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because America was always great,” she said, according to the Washington Post‘s Philip Rucker. Rucker said that the comment was met with “sustained applause” from the gathered mourners and dignitaries.
“Make no mistake: the applause ringing out at the Cathedral when Meghan McCain says ‘America has no need to be made great again because America was always great‘ is not standard,” added the New Yorker’s Susan Glasser. “Never heard applause at a funeral here before.”
Make no mistake: the applause ringing out at the Cathedral when Meghan McCain says ‘America has no need to be made great again because America was always great’ is not standard. Never heard applause at a funeral here before.
— Susan Glasser (@sbg1) September 1, 2018
However, McCain was not done going after the current administration. She held her father up as the epitome of American integrity, pointedly comparing him to other politicians in the process, in a clip singled out by CBS Evening News.
“He was a great man. We gather here to mourn the passing of American greatness,” she said. “The real thing. Not cheap rhetoric from men that will never come near the sacrifice he gave so willingly.”
“He was a great man. We gather here to mourn the passing of American greatness. The real thing. Not cheap rhetoric from men that will never come near the sacrifice he gave so willingly,” Meghan McCain remembers her father. //t.co/XcYYgVcaa6 pic.twitter.com/DYKPPYzlfx
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) September 1, 2018
McCain was applauded for her speech on Twitter, where pundits seemed more aware of the divide between President Trump’s supporters and the Republican establishment than ever. People on the left and the right cheered her on in tweets of their own.
“Meghan McCain showed the Republican party the difference between an American hero who sacrificed for his country and a demagogue who sucks the life out of a great nation for his own selfish needs,” wrote Huffington Post contributor Eugene Gu.
Meghan McCain showed the Republican party the difference between an American hero who sacrificed for his country and a demagogue who sucks the life out of a great nation for his own selfish needs.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) September 1, 2018
“Wonderful tribute to her father by Meghan McCain,” added former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
Of course, the president’s supporters reacted to the speech as well, with varying degrees of sensitivity to Meghan McCain’s mourning process.
“Why did you make your father’s tribute a political dig?” one person wrote. “I know you are morning (sic), but to play politics like you are on the View? Really? I voted proudly for your father to be President! I’m hurt you fell into the political trash about our President and the man I voted for!”
Why did you make your father’s tribute a political dig? I know you are morning, but to play politics like you are on the View? Really? I voted proudly for your father to be President! I’m hurt you fell into the political trash about our President and the man I voted for!
— Brenq (@Brenq10) September 1, 2018
Sen. John McCain passed away on Saturday, Aug. 25 after a prolonged battle with brain cancer. He was 81 years old.
Photo Credit: Nicholas Kamm / AFP / Getty Images
