John McCain's son Jimmy condemns Donald Trump's Arlington National Cemetery photo ops
CORNVILLE, ARIZONA: Former president Donald Trump was ripped by John McCain's (R-AZ) youngest son, Jimmy McCain for controversial Arlington cemetery campaign photo ops.
Jimmy, who has served in the military since he was 17, expressed his shock and disappointment over what occurred in the cemetery.
Jimmy McCain is blown away by Donald Trump’s Arlington photo op
Jimmy McCain didn’t hold back in his criticism of Donald Trump. “It just blows me away,” he said in an interview with CNN referring to Trump's alleged political campaign at Arlington National Cemetery.
Jimmy’s outrage was heightened because, at the time of the photo op, he had just returned from a seven-month deployment to a small US base on the Jordan-Syria border where three service members were killed in a drone attack.
“It was a violation,” he said. “That mother, that sister, those families, see that — and it’s a painful experience."
“These men and women that are laying in the ground there have no choice” about whether they wanted to be part of the campaign, Jimmy added.
"I just think that for anyone who’s done a lot of time in their uniform, they just understand that inherently — that it’s not about you there. It’s about these people who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the name of their country." Jimmy added.
Jimmy McCain says Donald Trump doesn't understand sacrifices of service members
Jimmy McCain expressed that the experiences and sacrifices of American soldiers are completely foreign to someone like Donald Trump.
“Many of these men and women, who served their country, chose to do something greater than themselves,” he said.
Jimmy explained that these service members “woke up one morning, they signed on the dotted line, they put their right hand up, and they chose to serve their country.
He believes this is an experience Trump has never had, adding, “I think that might be something that he thinks about a lot.”
Democrat Jimmy McCain reflects on Donald Trump's attack on his father John McCain
Jimmy McCain’s decision to speak out reflects a shift away from his family’s conservative roots.
He has recently registered as a Democrat and plans to vote for Kamala Harris in November. He also expressed his willingness to support her campaign, saying he “would get involved in any way I could” to help her.
Although Jimmy has mostly stayed out of politics until now, Trump’s previous attacks on his father, Senator John McCain, deeply affected him.
Trump once claimed that John was “not a war hero” because he was captured in Vietnam and reportedly called him a “loser.”
While these comments were personally painful, Jimmy said, “One thing about John McCain is that he chose a public life" adding, “So to attack him is really not out of the realm of his job description.”
While other members of the McCain family, including his mother Cindy and sister Meghan, have distanced themselves from Trump, Jimmy is the only one to have publicly left the Republican Party.
Please stop trying to turn me into a progressive. It’s a fever dream.
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) August 28, 2024
I’m a life long, generational conservative. https://t.co/XfN7faWd2X
Despite her strong criticisms of Trump, Meghan recently stated that she would not endorse Harris, tweeting, “I’m a lifelong, generational conservative.”