GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump is campaigning in Iowa where he again criticized the late U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ).
At a MAGA event this weekend, Trump referred to Obamacare as a “catastrophe that no one talks about” and blamed McCain for not repealing the Affordable Care Act in 2017.
Trump said: “John McCain for some reason couldn’t get his arm up that day” and mimicked McCain giving a thumb’s down gesture.
American Bridge 21st Century, a Democratic PAC, is circulating the Trump video with the caption: “Trump mocks John McCain’s injury sustained while a prisoner of war. McCain was unable to lift his arms above his shoulders.”
My dad was an American hero. An icon. A patriot that will be remembered throughout history. I cannot buy a bagel without someone approaching me about how much they loved and miss him.
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) January 7, 2024
Trump is a piece of shit, election denying, huckster whose own wife won't campaign with him. https://t.co/f3RlWLqT9B
[Note: On July 28, 2017, with a Republican majority (52-48), the Senate voted on the bill to repeal the ACA. Two Republican Senators, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, had voted against repealing Obamacare. After taking a phone call from then-president Trump in a cloak room, McCain returned to the Senate floor and also voted against repealing the ACA’s individual mandate with a “thumb’s down” gesture.]
McCain’s daughter, political pundit Meghan McCain, responded to the Trump video: “My dad was an American hero. An icon. A patriot that will be remembered throughout history. I cannot buy a bagel without someone approaching me about how much they loved and miss him. Trump is a piece of [expletive], election denying, huckster whose own wife won’t campaign with him.”
As recounted in the video below, Collins said the day McCain voted against repealing the ACA “was a dramatic moment on the Senate floor.”
Senator Chuck Schumer praised McCain for doing “what he thought was the right thing no matter the pressure.” Schumer added: “That thumb’s down could sum up his entire career. He did what he knew was right.”
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