Trump Claims He Never Called John McCain A ‘Loser,’ But Everyone Found Evidence Of Him Calling McCain A ‘Loser’

On Thursday, the Atlantic published an article claiming that President Donald Trump canceled his trip to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in 2018 because, as he reportedly asked senior members of his staff, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” He also referred to the Marines who lost their lives during the World War I battle as “suckers” and, to return to his favorite word, called naval aviator-turned-senator and presidential candidate John McCain a “f*cking loser” for… why?

Trump remained fixated on McCain, one of the few prominent Republicans to continue criticizing him after he won the nomination. When McCain died, in August 2018, Trump told his senior staff, according to three sources with direct knowledge of this event, “We’re not going to support that loser’s funeral,” and he became furious, according to witnesses, when he saw flags lowered to half-staff. “What the fuck are we doing that for? Guy was a fucking loser,” the president told aides.

Trump has since responded to the Atlantic article on (where else?) Twitter.

“I was never a big fan of John McCain,” he wrote, “but the lowering of our Nations American Flags, and the first class funeral he was given by our Country, had to be approved by me, as President, & I did so without hesitation or complaint. Quite the contrary, I felt it was well deserved. I even sent Air Force One to bring his body, in casket, from Arizona to Washington. It was my honor to do so.” Trump added that he never called McCain a “a loser and swear on whatever, or whoever, I was asked to swear on, that I never called our great fallen soldiers anything other than HEROES.”

But there’s always a tweet.

The tweet links to an article from 2015, where Trump said, “I don’t like losers” in reference to McCain at an Iowa GOP event. “He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured, OK. I like people that weren’t captured.” This did not go unnoticed.

Maybe he meant to say “I don’t like the movie Loser with Jason Biggs.” Probably that.

(Via the Atlantic)