Culture

Jake Tapper Defends John McCain After Trump Calls Him A Loser Who Shouldn’t Scrutinize Military Missions

Mornings are chaotic when it comes to following the Trump administration’s every move. Today, his counselor advertised Ivanka’s clothing line from the White House while he dropped a few Twitter tantrums. Trump’s currently upset at other people because his SCOTUS nominee criticized him, and that Twitter rant bled into one about John McCain. CNN’s Jake Tapper delivered his own impromptu Twitter analysis in a series of responses.

Trump’s offended because McCain denounced the first military raid under his presidency, in which everything went wrong in Yemen. A U.S. commando died along with an 8-year-old American girl and several other noncombatants, yet the Al-Qaeda target of the raid is still alive and laughing. In response to Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s claims that the raid was a success, McCain stated, “While many of the objectives of the recent raid in Yemen were met, I would not describe any operation that results in the loss of American life as a success.”

Naturally, Trump is furious and railed against the “losing” McCain while insisting that the mission was victorious. Trump also believes that McCain — as a senator — shouldn’t comment on military missions, which “only emboldens the enemy!” And it’s time to “start winning again!”

Tapper couldn’t let this sit without some fact checking. He began a Twitter thread to illustrate why the legislative branch is supposed to scrutinize missions, and he thinks that McCain’s status as a former POW further bolsters his expertise on such matters. In a series of tweets, the CNN host also called out some Benghazi-related hypocrisy from Trump and the GOP.

Of course, Tapper also took a moment to revive Trump’s “vile” 2015 comments about John McCain, in which the then-Republican candidate said McCain wasn’t a war hero because “I like people that weren’t captured, OK?” Tapper noted that McCain moved forward despite such insults.

Tapper then called out Trump for attacking anyone who challenges his positions or acts based upon merits, and he characterizes this as “unsustainable” behavior for a president.

And in the end, Tapper sort of ends with a metaphorical sigh, as in “We could do this all day,” which is totally true. And it shall all begin anew tomorrow morning. See you then.

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