September 1, 2018: President Trump Unwelcome at Funeral of Sen. John McCain

 

September 1, 2018: Much of the nation mourns the passing of Sen. John McCain. Former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama attend the funeral and deliver eulogies. The Big Orange Buffoon is not welcome. 

Trump heads off for one of his golf courses. 

Meaghan McCain, the senator’s daughter, rebukes the president without naming him. “We gather to mourn the passing of American greatness – the real thing, not cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the sacrifice he gave so willingly,” she says, “nor the opportunistic appropriation of those who lived lives of comfort and privilege [emphasis added, unless otherwise noted] while he suffered and served.” 

Her implicit comparison of her father’s service to that of the sitting president, a man who used five draft deferments to avoid putting himself in harm’s way, could not be more pointed.

 

Politico describes the scene: 

John McCain’s “America does not boast because she has no need to,” [his daughter] said. “The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because America was always great.”

 

The line drew sustained applause from within the cathedral, including from many service members in uniform. 

____________________ 

“He was always honorable, recognizing that his opponents were still patriots and human beings.” 

President George W. Bush

____________________ 

 

President Bush speaks with equal clarity. Without mentioning the current occupant of the White House, Bush lays out the differences between McCain, the war hero, and Trump. “He was honest, no matter whom it offended. Presidents were not spared,” Bush says of McCain. 

He was honorable, always recognizing that his opponents were still patriots and human beings. He loved freedom with the passion of a man who knew its absence. He respected the dignity inherent in every life, a dignity that does not stop at borders and cannot be erased by dictators.

 

Perhaps above all, John detested the abuse of power, could not abide bigots and swaggering despots.

 

Obama admits he was surprised when McCain called him not long before he died and asked him to speak at the funeral service. Again, a former leader cut down Trump without spelling it out. 

Said Obama: 

So much of our politics, our public life, our public discourse, can seem small and mean and petty. Trafficking in bombast and insult and phony controversies and manufactured outrage, it’s a politics that pretends to be brave and tough but in fact is born of fear. John called on us to be bigger than that. He called on us to be better than that.

 

…He understood that if we get in the habit of bending the truth to suit political expediency or party orthodoxy, our democracy will not work.

 

No doubt, if President Trump was watching, he was seething. Naturally, he spent a good part of his day tweeting.