Last updated on September 26th, 2018 at 12:38 pm
If you’re wondering which direction the Republican Party is headed in the post-John McCain era, a GOP senator from Oklahoma gave us a hint on Monday.
Responding to the controversy over Donald Trump keeping the White House flag at full staff less than 48 hours after John McCain‘s death, Republican Sen. James Inhofe blamed the late Arizona senator.
“Well, you know, frankly, I think that John McCain is partially to blame for that because he is very outspoken,” Inhofe said, according to CNN. “He disagreed with the President in certain areas and wasn’t too courteous about it.”
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That’s right: Disagreeing with some of the president’s politics means it’s okay to smear the record of an American war hero.
The Republican senator’s disturbing defense of Trump‘s lack of respect toward McCain shows just how far off the deep end the Republican Party has gone in the Trump era.
Trump and Republicans are disrespecting a war hero
Since early in his presidential campaign, Donald Trump – a five-time draft dodger – has spit on the heroic service John McCain has given this country.
When asked about McCain’s Vietnam record in 2015, Trump said the Arizona senator isn’t a war hero “because he was captured.”
“I like people who weren’t captured,” Trump said at the time.
Even after McCain’s brain cancer diagnosis, the petty president hasn’t held back. He frequently mocked McCain for his vote to save Obamacare and refused to mention his name earlier this month when he was signing a defense bill named after the Arizona senator.
Over the past 48 hours, Trump‘s behavior has become even more despicable as he refused to release an official statement praising McCain‘s service and he broke precedent by raising the White House flag to full staff less than 48 hours after McCain‘s passing.
If Inhofe’s statement is any indication, the GOP is A-okay with this behavior from the commander-in-chief.
In 2018, the Republican Party is more concerned about staying on the good side of a man-child president than they are about honoring the life of an American war hero.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
