History: “Wheel Chair Kennedy”
Hitler would be proud.
Until recently, the nearly universal reaction to the late John McCain was that he was a revered American who sacrificed much while serving in the Vietnam War and who went on to serve with distinction in public life.
McCain was both a Republican and a conservative icon complete with a “maverick” streak who embodied American and patriotic values.
He had, as they say, walked the walk.
Former president Donald Trump began to refer to McCain as a “loser” thus giving his supporters official permission to vilify the Vietnam hero, which they readily did.
(Trump avoided the war with repeated draft deferments for foot problems.)
Seemingly overnight, Trump drove a stake into McCain’s reputation so thoroughly that his name became synonymous with cowardice and treason, at least for the MAGA crowd.
Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, who never served a day in his life, picked up on the Trump theme and now uses “Eye-patch McCain” as a derogatory phrase to describe U.S. Representative Dan Crenshaw. He is a former Navy Seal who lost an eye in the War in Afghanistan.
Carlson is Trump’s propaganda chief, Hitler’s Joseph Goebbels, as he croons the MAGA tune.
Adolph Hitler gained power in Germany by creating these blatantly false narratives and recasting history to suit his purposes, Trump (and Carlson) do the same.
It can be hard to grasp how astonishing Trump’s proud trashing of McCain actually is.
Turn to the Democratic Party and try the same with a nearly sacred politico-military figure.
Imagine, if you can, Democrats turning on John Kennedy and making “JFK” synonymous with cowardice and treason.
But you need to go a step further.
Then apply that to a contemporary politician with a war-related injury, perhaps a Tammy Duckworth, who lost both legs in the Iraq war, and you have the Trump-MAGA inspired hate and savagery.
It’s really quite amazing.
Even more amazing when you consider that this GOP considers itself to be patriotic, “family values” and Christian oriented.
Trump is a Joe McCarthy on steroids who made hate great again and destroyed a political party, and its leaders along the way.
