Donald Trump rejected a statement prepared by his aides that praised John McCain, according to the Washington Post, underscoring the US president’s enduring scorn for the late senator and war hero. While tributes have poured in highlighting the Arizona Republican’s lifetime of service, Trump issued a single, terse tweet on Saturday that sent his “deepest sympathies and respect” to the bereaved family, without any words for McCain himself. McCain was one of Trump’s sharpest critics, and made clear in one of his final wishes as he struggled with brain cancer that he did not want the president to attend his funeral. He went on to attack McCain’s service in the military, saying of the onetime prisoner of war: “I like people that weren’t captured.”As McCain’s health ebbed, he missed few opportunities to lash out at the president. He was one of just three Republican senators to vote against — and thus defeat — a Trump-backed effort to repeal Barack Obama’s signature health care law.

Source: Punch August 27, 2018 13:41 UTC