McCain 'surprised' by Trump attack; says POWs owed an apology
Arizona Sen. John McCain says he was surprised by Donald Trump's stinging attack on his war record and veterans work, but calls such attacks on political opponents a "trademark" of the celebrity real-estate titan.
The controversy exploded July 18 when Trump told an Iowa audience that McCain is "a war hero because he was captured" and that Trump likes "people that weren't captured." The Republican senator earlier had stoked the feud by telling the New Yorker magazine that Trump had "fired up the crazies" at his July 11 rally in downtown Phoenix.
The uproar over Trump's anti-McCain tirade continued all week as a string of veterans groups and even the National Border Patrol Council defended McCain, a former Navy aviator who was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967 and spent more than five years as a prisoner of war.
McCain, the 2008 GOP White House nominee now seeking a sixth U.S. Senate term, discussed Trump, the Republican presidential race and other topics in an extended question-and-answer session with The Arizona Republic.
The 78-year-old senator said he was not expecting the Trump attack.
"I was surprised. I honestly was surprised," McCain tells the newspaper. "I'd never had a clash with him before. I was surprised, but I think it's important to note he attacks everybody. He attacks (Jeb) Bush, he attacks Lindsey Graham, he attacks (Rick) Perry. It's sort of his trademark. He attacks the media, but, more importantly, he attacks all of the other candidates. He has something derogatory to say about all of them. He doesn't just say he disagrees with them. He casts aspersions on them."
On the specific remarks about McCain's war experience as a POW, the senator said Trump doesn't owe him an apology "because I'm in the (public) arena."
"But he does owe an apology to every single veteran who was captured and was a prisoner of war," McCain said.
The senator also defended his work with veterans, saying that he has a staff of five people dedicated solely to helping veterans, even those who are not from Arizona. "We have pending, generally speaking, 600 veterans cases per day that we are working on for veterans from all over America," he said.
McCain also brushed off Trump's complaint that the senator had denigrated as "crazies" the thousands of people who turned out at the Trump rally in Phoenix. "Obviously, I was speaking in jest," he said. "I appreciate the rough and tumble of my party, and of my citizens. I have been called crazy many times, and, as I've said, I view it as a term of endearment."
Asked about Trump's "policy depth," McCain replied that the real estate developer, after pushing his demand for a wall on the border, recently ducked a reporter's question on how to deal with millions of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. "So he makes these statements and does not have any solutions for them other than to criticize those of us who are trying to find solutions," McCain said.,
The senator acknowledged that Trump's tactics have dominated the news cycles in recent weeks and drowned out the voices of other GOP presidential hopefuls.
"I think it's hard. A good example of how hard it is is that the day before yesterday, John Kasich, a very successful governor of a swing state (Ohio), announced, and it was on the inside of the papers," he said.
Regarding the state of the GOP and whether the turmoil inside is overblown, McCain said that "we're obviously in a very interesting time, and unprecedented, because you have so many people that are running."
"But at the same time," he added. "I noted that in key states yesterday, there was a poll that showed our leading candidates beating (Democratic presidential front-runner) Hillary Clinton. The rising mistrust of Hillary Clinton is being reflected in the polls, but, of course, all the oxygen is being sucked out of the room by the Trump campaign."
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