Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump greets the crowd after speaking at the Republican Party of Arkansas Reagan Rockefeller dinner in Hot Springs. Photo / AP
Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump greets the crowd after speaking at the Republican Party of Arkansas Reagan Rockefeller dinner in Hot Springs. Photo / AP
Questioning John McCain’s war bravery opens flood of criticism.
Donald Trump, the celebrity businessman who has rocketed to the front of the Republican presidential race, flippantly belittled Senator John McCain's war service, inviting a torrent of criticism from party leaders and other candidates.
"He's not a war hero," Trump said of McCain at a summit of 3000 socially conservative activists in Ames, Iowa.
He continued, sarcastically, "He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured."
For the past month, Republican leaders have cringed privately at Trump's inflammatory comments about undocumented immigrants from Mexico and have been aghast at his summer surge to the top of the polls. But they have been reluctant or afraid to condemn a candidate whose outbursts have proven both brash and unpredictable.
That dynamic changed suddenly yesterday. Within an hour of Trump's slam on the Arizona senator and 2008 Republican presidential nominee, the floodgates opened.
Former Texas Governor Rick Perry, himself a subject of recent attacks from the real estate mogul and reality television star, issued a statement saying that Trump was "unfit" to serve as the commander-in-chief and calling on him to "immediately withdraw".
"As an individual who has worn the uniform of this country, I was highly offended by what Donald Trump said about John McCain and his years of sacrifice in a dirty, dingy, terrible prison in North Vietnam".
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush tweeted, "Enough with the slanderous attacks". Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker said Trump should apologise to McCain and "all the other men and women who have worn the uniform" - and then repeated his condemnation at the summit.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio tweeted that prisoners of war "deserve much better than to have their service questioned by the offensive rantings of Donald Trump". New Jersey Governor Chris Christie tweeted, "Senator John McCain is an American Hero. Period. Stop."
At a state Democratic fundraising dinner, Hillary Clinton said: "There's nothing funny about the hate he [Trump] is spewing at immigrants and their families and now the insults he has directed at a genuine war hero, Senator John McCain". Clinton added it was "shameful" that it took Trump's Republican rivals so long to "stand up to him," mostly referring to Trump's comments on immigrants.
But Trump, who has not served in the military and received a series of draft deferments during the Vietnam War, refused to apologise. He later told reporters that McCain - the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, who oversees the Defence Department, the navy and air force - "doesn't do anything" in the Senate to help veterans.
By late yesterday McCain had not publicly responded. Photo / AP
By late yesterday McCain had not publicly responded. But at the Iowa event, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham - one of his closest friends, who is running for the Republican nomination - said of Trump: "You're fired".
Republican leaders seized an opportunity to disavow what they saw as an outrageous attack against McCain. They also sought to push Trump from serious contention for the nomination and to relegate his support to the far-right fringe.
.@SenJohnMcCain is an American hero & all POW's deserve our nation's highest debt of gratitude. @realDonaldTrump's comments are disgraceful.
Immigration is an explosive Republican issue, so party leaders and some other candidates were reticent to confront Trump over his calling undocumented Mexicans crossing the US border drug dealers, criminals and rapists. Republicans are concerned that if they can't make inroads into the Hispanic vote, they will be in serious trouble in national elections.
After Donald Trump spends six years in a POW camp, he can weigh in on John McCain's service
But GOP leaders are afraid to alienate Trump's core conservative supporters who staunchly oppose immigration reform, and they worry about angering Trump so much that, if he does not win the GOP nomination, he will pursue an independent run in the general election.
Decorated hero
•John McCain is one of America's most distinguished POWs and the recipient of the Silver Star, the country's third-highest award for valour.
•McCain was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967 and suffered a broken leg and two broken arms while ejecting from his fighter jet.
•He was taken prisoner and received little medical treatment for his wounds, instead enduring almost daily beatings and interrogations by his guards.
