Donald Trump quickly rose to the top of the polls (“the top” being a very qualified definition, given that he is far and away the most publicized candidate among a group of 14 others splitting the rest), by making comments about Mexican illegals that resonated with a large number of people – and not just Republicans, either. The comments themselves were way over the top: obnoxiously said and suggestive of bias against Mexicans in general (which is why he has tried so hard – and so unsuccessfully – to walk that image back ever since).
Another reason for Trumps rise was that he has been pounded by mainstream media — which, if the polls are accurate, currently have approval ratings in the sub-Nixonian range.
But now Trump has made a comment, about a man many consider to be a war hero – and certainly one who has spent his political career standing up for the US military – which is virtually guaranteed to make him persona non grata even to a great many Republicans who have liked what he said so far.
Speaking of Senator John McCain, who was shot down in Vietnam, and held prisoner by the Viet Cong for five and a half years, Trump said:
“He\’s not a war hero. I like people that weren\’t captured. He\’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren\’t captured.”
It would be hard to overstate how disgusting – not to mention utterly moronic – that comment is.
John McCain spent those five and a half years subjected to torture that would have made a loudmouth like Donald Trump crack in five minutes. You can read all about it here.
Yet, when he could have been released earlier, in part because his father was an Admiral, McCain refused unless and until his fellow prisoners were released with him. He stayed in the hands of his captors and torturers rather than be given a thing that was denied to the other soldiers he served with.
While Mr. McCain was doing this, Mr. Trump was living the high life in New York and wherever else he wanted to be on daddy\’s money as he enjoyed his deferments far, far away from where the fighting took place.
Trump is now trying to walk back his comment about McCain, as if he could convince us he didn\’t mean it the way it came out. I won\’t post his BS explanation because there is nothing – and I do mean nothing- that can take it back.
This, I expect (and hope) is the end of what minuscule chance Trump had of winning the Republican nomination for President.
But it did get him another burst of publicity, didn\’t it?
The way his mind works, that should make things all better.
