MEGYN Kelly tore into the President on her morning news show over his response to John McCain’s death with an eviscerating putdown.
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| Megyn Kelly attacked the President for making ‘every moment about his own personal pettiness |
TELEVISION host Megyn Kelly tore into Donald Trump over his response to John McCain’s death, after the President disappointed with his lack of tributes to the late senator.
Kelly criticised Mr Trump on her morning news show for making “every moment about his own personal pettiness, as opposed to about the country”.
She introduced the segment on NBC’s Megyn Kelly Today by discussing how the White House had re-lowered the flag to half-mast after coming under pressure for raising it too early.
The President initially came under fire from furious Americans over his “narcissistic” and “fake” condolences.
It took two days for Mr Trump to make what was considered an appropriate statement honouring his fellow Republican.
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| Donald Trump has been fiercely criticised for his terse, ‘fake’ and ‘narcissistic’ condolences to John McCain’s family. |
The President reportedly rejected exhortations from aides to issue an official White House statement praising Mr McCain as a “hero” during the Vietnam War.
Press secretary Sarah Sanders was the one who finally convinced Mr Trump to make a statement with the help of the White House chief of staff, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“It’s kind of remarkable to see the President so resistant,” said Kelly. “I realise they didn’t like each other, I mean that’s obvious. But he is not the first lawmaker or American patriot to die who did not have a great relationship with the sitting president.
“Typically in our country, we put partisan politics aside and even your personal feelings aside out of respect for the nation, for one’s service to nation. I mean, that guy spent five-and-a-half-years years in a POW camp and did not break and stood by his countrymen.”
“One of the many problems with President Trump is that he makes every moment about his own personal pettiness, as opposed to about the country.”
The former Fox News host has repeatedly clashed with Mr Trump in the past, and was the recipient of his widely denounced insult: “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes … Blood was coming out of her wherever.”
Kelly then spoke with her guest, George W Bush’s daughter Jenna Bush Hager, about how her father and Barack Obama were the two people Mr McCain wanted to speak at his funeral, despite Mr Bush beating Mr McCain to the nomination.
“But then they became dear friends,” replied Ms Bush Hager. “They became dear friends and I think there’s a history in our country, long before what we’re living in now, where politics is put aside for friendship.
“He was a really good person and he will be missed.”
She described how touched she was by Mr McCain’s powerful final statement, in which he urged the public: “Do not despair of our present difficulties but believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here.”
With tears in her eyes, Ms Bush Hager said: “I wanted to shout it out to my little children, who don’t know how to read, because his statement speaks to the best of our country and where I believe we’ll go back — and how appropriate that the maverick had the last word.”
She said people all over the world were celebrating Mr McCain’s life, although “one person may not be celebrating loudly.”
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| The Republican Senator has been honoured as a war hero — but Mr Trump failed to acknowledge this. |
Kelly said she felt that as the nation mourned the death of Mr McCain, who died on Saturday aged 81 after a battle with brain cancer, it was symbolic of much more.
“I feel like Republicans are mourning the loss of a party that used to be more about kindness, you know, that once Trump has taken it over and I understand why he was put in office, but it’s all about brashness and fighting and in your face and a lot of crass behaviour.
She said Mr McCain “represented an era in which things could be a little more bipartisan, you could reach across the aisle, and it just feels, has that died with him?”
Over the past few days, both Democrats and Republicans have slammed what they see as Mr Trump’s lack of respect for his late colleague.
The President initially tweeted a brief statement sending condolences to Mr McCain’s family, but failing to mention many of his achievements.
He also angered the public by sharing an image on Instagram with the statement — of himself.
He then ignored repeated questions about Mr McCain from reporters at a White House event on Monday, staring straight ahead.
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| George W Bush’s daughter Jenna Bush Hager said Mr McCain’s last statement ‘speaks to the best of our country and where I believe we’ll go back. |
Mr Trump drew widespread condemnation during his 2016 presidential campaign when he questioned Mr McCain’s military service, saying he liked people who had not been captured.
“He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured,” Mr Trump said at a campaign event in Iowa.
Mr McCain attacked what he saw as the “unpatriotic” abdication of US leadership on the world stage, slamming Mr Trump’s policies as “half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems.”
The senator also angered Mr Trump in July 2017 when he helped scuttle Republican efforts to overturn health care reforms implemented by Mr Obama.
The WSJ said Mr Trump viewed the press coverage of the former senator and prisoner-of-war’s death as “over the top” and more befitting a president.
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