John McCain Demands Donald Trump Make Amends to Veterans
Senator John McCain of Arizona called on Donald J. Trump to make amends to veterans for his belittling comments about prisoners of war and suggested he would be unlikely to appear on a stage with Mr. Trump until that happened.
Mr. McCain has committed to supporting Mr. Trump as the Republican nominee for president. But in an interview that aired on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, Mr. McCain expressed deep dismay at the tenor of the Republican presidential race, saying Mr. Trump make amends to “a body of American heroes” he had offended.
Mr. Trump mocked Mr. McCain last summer for having been captured and imprisoned during the Vietnam War, saying that he preferred “people who weren’t captured.”
Mr. McCain, who was the Republican presidential nominee in 2008, told CNN that he was personally indifferent to Mr. Trump’s ridicule but that he could not abide the affront to veterans in general. Asked if he would appear on the campaign trail with Mr. Trump, Mr. McCain said “a lot of things would have to happen” first.
“I think it’s important for Donald Trump to express his appreciation for veterans — not John McCain, but veterans who were incarcerated as prisoners of war,” Mr. McCain said. “When he said, ‘I don’t like people who were captured,’ then there’s a body of American heroes that I’d like to see him retract that statement — not about me, but about the others.”
Mr. McCain’s comments add to the already extraordinary pressure on Mr. Trump to mend his relationships across the Republican Party and win over a range of party leaders he has alienated in the 2016 campaign. One of Mr. McCain’s closest friends in the Senate, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, has already announced that he will not vote for Mr. Trump under any circumstances.
Mr. McCain said it was incumbent on Mr. Trump to “heal many of the wounds” from the primary season. The senator said the “personalization” of the 2016 race was like nothing he had ever seen, “where people’s integrity and character are questioned.”
Noting the rift that had opened in the Republican Party, Mr. McCain said the party’s leaders had lost touch with many voters in Mr. Trump’s constituency — mainly, he said, older, white, blue-collar workers who see no job prospects.
“There is some distance, if not a disconnect, between party leadership and members of Congress,” Mr. McCain said,“and many of the voters who have selected Donald Trump to be the nominee of the party.”
5 Things That Will Doom Republicans During 2016 Presidential Elections
The reason that the Republicans are doomed this Presidential election is simple: they continue to repeat history instead of learning from it. They simply have not learned anything from the problems of the 21st century. In fact, they are running on the same campaign promises that have pushed the country into the abyss. In the last decade we have seen a record deficit, more terrorist attacks, few new jobs, and wealth inequality soaring, yet these appear to be the platforms on which the Republicans are running again. Here are the five things that will doom Republicans during 2016 Presidential elections.
1. Yet Another Middle East War
The time for talking about dismantling the Iran nuclear program is long over. The Republicans had a chance to stop Iran in their tracks back in 2003 when they had only a few dozen pieces of the puzzle. The George Bush administration had the opportunity to meet and talk with Iranian leaders, but declined to come to the table to negotiate. That would have been the time to discuss dismantling the centrifuges, but the Bush administration simply spurned that deal. The only way to stop Iran now would be nothing short of military action, and that will certainly be the beginning of a deadly war, not the end of their nuclear program. The dark cloud of not negotiating and the eagerness to start a war will be a dark cloud hanging over the Republican Party during the 2016 presidential elections.
2. The Rich Getting Richer
This year the rich in America have never had so much money. The promise of more and even bigger tax cuts for the richest in this country only increases the already enormous gap between the richest 300,000 and the rest of the country. This increase in separation has basically stalled the economy, but the Republicans are poised to make certain the wealthy get even more money this campaign. That small percentage of the richest Americans take in more than all 180 million Americans combined. The Republicans are trying to twist their rhetoric to match public outcry, but it is nothing more than a ploy and smokescreen to make the rich wealthier.
The latest tax reform proposed by Mike Lee and Marco Rubio has already been revealed to be nothing more that a huge tax-cut plan that reduces the Federal reserve by a whopping $2.4 trillion dollars over the next ten years. This large tax cut will benefit one particular group again, and surely alienate more voters who are not willing to line the pockets of the richest any longer.
3. Sending More Troops to Iraq
Whether or not you think that the war powers enacted by President Obama that targeted ISIS were enough, the Republicans think that more ground troops should be deployed much sooner than later. Although President Obama thinks that the war should be left to King Abdullah II, Republicans want faster and a more powerful presence in Iraq. ISIS is a group of outlaws, and King Abdullah II believes he has what it takes to win his war, without the excessive ground troops and airstrikes many Republicans are proposing. While President Obama has been trying to bring our troops home and allow other countries to fight and handle their own wars, the Republican party feels that in order to protect the security of American and every American citizen, we need to increase the ground troop presence, especially in Iraq.
4. Taking Away Health Care Coverage
Although the Affordable Care Act has been a hot-button subject for most of the two terms for President Obama, the bottom line is more people today have coverage than ever before. The Republicans, however, feel that they did not have an adequate chance to vote down the act, and want a second chance to reform health care for all Americans. Going back to the Bush administration, almost eight million Americans lost their health care coverage as they saw their premiums skyrocket. When Republicans were pushed to reform the bills, they simply passed an unfunded expansion of the Medicare system. The simple truth is that once the Affordable Care Act was passed health insurance premium growth has basically stalled. Even as thirteen million Americans took advantage of the lower health care, the country spent $600 million dollars less than we did only a few years ago.
If the Republicans have their way, not only will eight million Americans lose their coverage immediately, over fourteen million middle-class American workers would have their coverage threatened.
5. Electing Another Bush
The truth of the matter is that many voters feel that when all the smoke clears and the rhetoric is exposed for what it is, Donald Trump will simply ride off into the sunset with his millions of dollars in tow. That means that the most likely Republican candidate will be Jeb Bush, and this could already spell trouble for a party that is trying to distance themselves from the policies and the mess that the last Bush administration left behind. The American people are all too familiar with what happens when one Bush President tries to outdo the last Bush President. The problem for the Republican party is that Jeb Bush is not even making any attempts to distance himself from his brother’s policies. In fact, Jeb is claiming that he still backs those failed policies today. During a recent conversation on a conservative talk-show, Jeb Bush said that he would not hesitate for a moment to start the third Bush war in Iraq! Bush feels that his father’s war was just too small, that his brother’s war was extremely too big, and that he will fight the right sized war. It seems like a forgone conclusion that Bush is already preparing the troops even without having secured the Presidential nomination.
These five things that will doom Republicans during 2016 Presidential elections should be enough, but this only scratches the surface. The American voters right now are all caught up in the distractions that are Donald Trump, and once the smoke clears, these five issues alone will sink the party before they even have a chance to get both oars in the water during the Presidential election of 2016.
