Editorial: The final word on this election – to John McCain

Column by John Young

When a whistleblower reported that then-President Trump had played military aid to Ukraine like a cat's toy to encourage President Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden, Trump denied it. My first reaction in this column:

“Sounds to me like something he would do. And you?”

He did it. He was prosecuted for this.

Fast forward through a disreputable presidency, a series of criminal charges and a campaign to return to power that has broken all records for unscrupulous behavior. What else can we now assume was entirely within this man's character?

Saying good things about Adolf Hitler.

Absolutely not! He protested. What do you think?

Is Trump the one who is “poisoning our blood”? He is the “enemy within”? He dreams of mass deportations? Him?

Oh, and don't forget his Mr. Fascist Pageant, held at Madison Square Garden. Heal him.

According to his alleged admiration for the monster of all monsters, we must trust the word of a four-star Marine general – then-Chief of Staff John Kelly – or that of a serial conspirator who risks incarceration based on the results of this election.

Kelly also said Trump called war dead “suckers” and “losers.” Sounds like someone borrowed from the New York Times non-seller “You, Too, Can Act Like an Idiot.”

Disrespect for those who made the ultimate sacrifice: Does that sound like Trump? Ask John McCain's family.

When Trump was running for president in 2016, he made a comment about McCain that once would have ended a run.

Reflecting on the grueling and debilitating five years the latter spent in a North Vietnamese prison camp, Trump – who had avoided military service by any means possible – said McCain was no war hero.

“I like people who haven’t been captured.”

To put it in an understatement, Trump's remark took the insolence to a new layer.

This was the man from the Republican Party who was supposed to lead our nation.

Tragically, he would weaken the Electoral College needle to share such wisdom from America's highest echelon.

Now he wants his seat back. In the final word before the election, voters need to be reminded of what kind of person this man is.

We turn to Peter Baker and Susan Glasser's insightful look at the Trump presidency, “The Divider.”

The book is full of insider accounts of the man many historians have called the worst president in history.

Related to this assessment, Baker and Glasser report on Trump's efforts to achieve this not honor John McCain in death.

“We will not support this loser’s funeral,” Trump told his advisers as so many mourned.

John Kelly didn't get the hint. He had the White House flags flown at half-staff.

“What the hell are we doing this for?” Trump snorted. “The guy is a real loser.”

After the Department of Homeland Security advised all of its offices to fly the flag at half-staff, a Trump aide called on top officials to reverse the order.

This prompted Kelly to march in and confront Trump:

“If you don’t support John McCain’s funeral when you die, the public will come to your grave and piss on it.”

Trump “unfortunately” gave in, the authors report. “I don’t know why you think all these people who are shot down are heroes.”

Knowing this, I have to say: If I were a veteran or in the military, I wouldn't support Trump if I was chained to an anthill.

So McCain is gone, but only after he boldly pushed forward Trump's vile attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

And McCain had this to say about the man who demeaned the office the Arizona senator sought and sided with dictators who would harm this nation:

“The damage caused by President Trump’s naivety, selfishness, false equivalence and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to quantify.”

Period.

Longtime journalist John Young lives in Colorado. Email him at [email protected].

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author.