Any of you who have followed my blogs over the last 15 years know that John McCain was a guy who I rarely agreed with on anything. We came from and inhabited completely different political universes, and I actively campaigned against him in 2008. And, to be honest, there’s been more than a fair share of snark and anger aimed from this vantage point at the man over the years. But, and I emphasize this, he was always a man who would stop and listen to the other side, and he was ALWAYS a man who stood for and with his country. I respect that, and his service to his nation is so far beyond anything that the current commander in chief can comprehend, never mind aspire to, that I have no adequate words to describe the gulf between them. So, to hear the following words come from the mouth of an admitted sexual assaulter; a man who has told more lies than some of us have taken breaths; a man who sold out his country for personal profit; a man with absolutely NO understanding of, or wish to understand, empathy; a man who refused to serve his country on 5 occasions; a coward, is just too much to take.
No matter how much or little you agree with John McCain and his political stances, he was and is an American hero. Period. And that is an honor and a title that Donald Trump cannot stain or corrupt no matter what he does or says.
I think that the following may be the worst moment in presidential history … by the worst human to ever hold the job …
THE PRESIDENT:
A lot of people are asking, because they love me, and they ask me about a man named John McCain. And if you want, I could tell you about — should I or not? Yes? Yes?
So, I have to be honest: I’ve never liked him much. Hasn’t been for me. I’ve really — probably never will. But there are certain reasons for it, and I’ll tell you. And I do this to save a little time with the press later on. John McCain received a fake and phony dossier. Did you hear about the dossier? It was paid for by Crooked Hillary Clinton. Right?
And John McCain got it. He got it. And what did he do? He didn’t call me. He turned it over to the FBI, hoping to put me in jeopardy. And that’s not the nicest thing to do. You know, when those people say — because I’m a very loyal person.
John McCain campaigned for years to repeal and replace Obamacare — for years, in Arizona. A great state. I love the people of Arizona. But he campaigned, for years, for “repeal and replace.” So did Rob and so did a lot of senators.
When he finally had the chance to do it, he voted against “repeal and replace.” He voted against, at 2 o’clock in the morning. Remember “thumbs down”? We said, “What the hell happened?” He said, two hours before, he was voting to repeal and replace. And then he went thumbs down, badly hurting the Republican Party, badly hurting our nation, and hurting many sick people who desperately wanted good, affordable healthcare. We would’ve had it.
This would’ve saved our country over a trillion dollars in entitlements, and we would have ended up making a great healthcare plan, frankly, with the Democrats because they would have had no choice.
McCain didn’t get the job done for our great vets and the VA, and they knew it. That’s why, when I had my dispute with him, I had such incredible support from the vets and from the military. The vets were on my side because I got the job done. I got Choice and I got Accountability. Accountability — meaning, if somebody mistreats our vets — for 45 years they were trying — they mistreat our vets, and we say, “Hey, you’re fired. Get out.” You can’t mistreat our vets. They never got it done. (Applause.)
And Choice — for year and years, decades, they wanted to get Choice. You know what Choice is. You’re a military person. You’re one of our great people. To me, one of the great people. For many decades, they couldn’t get it done. It was never done. I got it five months ago. I got it done — Choice. Instead of waiting in line — a vet fought for us, fought in these tanks; fought for us.
Instead of waiting in line for two days, two weeks, two months — people on line, they’re not very sick. By the time they see a doctor, they’re terminally ill. We gave them Choice. If you have to wait for any extended period of time, you go outside, you go to a local doctor. We pay the bill; you get yourself better. Go home to your family. And we got it passed. We got it done.
And the other thing is we’re in a war in the Middle East that McCain pushed so hard. He was calling Bush — President Bush — all the time: “Get into the Middle East. Get into the Middle East.”
So now we’re into that war for $7 trillion. Thousands and thousands of our people have been killed, millions of people overall. And frankly, we’re straightening it out now, but it’s been a disaster for our country. We’ve spent tremendous wealth — tremendous wealth — and tremendous lives in that war.
And what do we have? It’s worse than it was 19 years ago. I call them the “endless wars.” Nineteen years ago, when we started.
So, John McCain loved it. I endorsed him at his request, and I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted — which, as President, I had to approve. I don’t care about this. I didn’t get “thank you.” That’s okay. We sent him on the way. But I wasn’t a fan of John McCain.
So now, what we could say is: Now we’re all set. I don’t think I have to answer that question, but the press keeps, “What do you think of McCain? What do you think?” Not my kind of guy. But some people like him, and I think that’s great.