Donald Trump began Sunday by continuing his weekend-long attack against John McCain, this time taking to Twitter to make a false claim insulting the intelligence of the Arizona Senator who has been dead for seven months.
Trump had already tweeted insults at McCain on Saturday for turning in the now-famous Steele Dossier to the FBI during the 2016 presidential campaign. The dossier revealed allegations that Trump’s campaign was working directly with Russia to interfere in the election.
On Sunday morning, Trump turned his attention to John McCain’s intelligence, tweeting that McCain was “last in his class” at the U.S. Naval Academy. Trump again referenced the Steele Dossier in the tweet , calling it the “Fake Dossier” and saying that McCain tried to work with Democrats to derail him but “failed.”
Donald Trump’s claim was not true, as many obituaries noted that McCain finished near the bottom of his class at the U.S. Naval Academy, but was five spots ahead of the bottom.
Trump’s earlier attack on John McCain had prompted a response from McCain’s daughter, Meghan. She took to Twitter , telling Trump that he will never be as beloved as her father.
“No one will ever love you the way they loved my father…. I wish I had been given more Saturday’s [sic] with him. Maybe spend yours with your family instead of on twitter obsessing over mine?” she wrote.
So it was indeed (just proven in court papers) “last in his class” (Annapolis) John McCain that sent the Fake Dossier to the FBI and Media hoping to have it printed BEFORE the Election. He & the Dems, working together, failed (as usual). Even the Fake News refused this garbage!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2019
Donald Trump has frequently railed against the Steele Dossier, though much of it has been proven true through Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
Trump attacks John McCain a SECOND TIME after Meghan defends her dad in wake of president … https://t.co/5tEa22nZfy via @MailOnline
— angrybird (@alpine106) March 17, 2019
Trump also has a long history of attacks against John McCain, including an infamous statement during the 2016 presidential campaign that he does not consider McCain to be a war hero because he was shot down and captured in Vietnam.
Donald Trump continued his attacks against McCain after the Arizona Senator was diagnosed with brain cancer and even after his death last year. Trump reportedly mocked McCain in a meeting with reporters last month, saying that the Senator’s memoir “bombed.”
Translation: “John McCain was a Vietnam POW who refused to use his family’s military connections to get an early release from a Hanoi prison. I used family connections to avoid serving in the same war and to get into a college I wasn’t qualified to attend.” https://t.co/6bLK4f9UqG
— Tim O’Brien (@TimOBrien) March 17, 2019
You are a low, impotent worm.
John McCain lived every virtue and quality you lack.
Let’s review: physical and moral courage. Patriotic loyalty to his country and comrades in the face of death and torture. Country before self and party. Humor and self-awareness. Love of family. https://t.co/2GmRFrgMeL
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) March 17, 2019
The latest attack Donald Trump launched against John McCain drew considerable backlash, with many taking the president to task for repeatedly attacking — often falsely — the beloved Senator now seven months after his death. Many also attacked Trump for receiving a series of deferments to avoid serving in the Vietnam War, including claims that he suffered from bone spurs that were later identified as a lie both by Trump’s former lawyer and children of the doctor who wrote the letter excusing Trump from serving.