Meghan McCain Slams Donald Trump for Attacking Her Late Dad John: 'My Father Was His Kryptonite'
Meghan McCain is not holding back when it comes to defending her father John McCain after President Donald Trump‘s “pathetic” remarks.
During Monday’s episode of The View, Meghan, 34, and the rest of her co-hosts discussed Trump’s tweets over the weekend, in which he attacked the former Arizona senator — who died in August at age 81 from brain cancer — over his alleged involvement with the Russian investigation.
After sitting quietly for the first part of the conversation, Meghan spoke up and slammed Trump, 72, for spending his weekend speaking poorly of her late father, whom she referred to as a “great man.”
“[Trump] spends his weekend obsessing over great men because — he knows it and I know it and all of you know it — he will never be a great man,” she stated. “My father was his kryptonite in life, he’s his kryptonite in death.”
“All of us have love and families and when my father was alive up until adulthood we would spend our time together cooking, hiking, fishing, really celebrating life and I think it’s because he almost died,” she said referring to his time as a prisoner of war. “And I just thought, ‘Your life is spent on weekends not with your family, not with your friends, but obsessing — obsessing over great men you could never live up to.'”
“That tells you everything you needed to know about his pathetic life,” Meghan added.
Meghan also said she felt “genuinely bad for his family” and “couldn’t imagine” having a father who spends his time tweeting instead of enjoying moments with family.
Over the weekend, Trump accused the late politician of leaking a dossier about his connection with the Russian government in an effort to hurt him ahead of the 2016 election. He also falsely claimed in his tweets that John graduated last in his class at the United States Naval Academy.
“Spreading the fake and totally discredited dossier ‘is, unfortunately, a very dark stain against John McCain.’ Ken Starr, Former Independent Counsel. He had far worse ‘stains’ than this, including thumbs down on repeal and replace after years of campaigning to repeal and replace!” Trump wrote on Saturday.
A day later, he added in a separate tweet: “So it was indeed (just proven in court papers) ‘last in his class’ (Annapolis) John McCain that sent the Fake Dossier to the FBI and Media hoping to have it printed BEFORE the Election. He & the Dems, working together, failed (as usual). Even the Fake News refused this garbage!”
Spreading the fake and totally discredited Dossier “is unfortunately a very dark stain against John McCain.” Ken Starr, Former Independent Counsel. He had far worse “stains” than this, including thumbs down on repeal and replace after years of campaigning to repeal and replace!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 16, 2019
So it was indeed (just proven in court papers) “last in his class” (Annapolis) John McCain that sent the Fake Dossier to the FBI and Media hoping to have it printed BEFORE the Election. He & the Dems, working together, failed (as usual). Even the Fake News refused this garbage!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2019
In response to his messages, Meghan fired back and made it clear that she would not remain silent on the matter.
“No one will ever love you the way they loved my father…. I wish I had been given more Saturday’s with him. Maybe spend yours with your family instead of on twitter obsessing over mine?” she wrote.
Meghan’s fellow co-host Joy Behar referenced her passionate tweet on Monday, where she claimed that “no one in [Trump’s] family wants to spend any time with him,” which is why he spends so much time on social media.
No one will ever love you the way they loved my father.... I wish I had been given more Saturday’s with him. Maybe spend yours with your family instead of on twitter obsessing over mine? https://t.co/q7ezwmHiQ4
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) March 16, 2019
Trump’s bad blood with John started as early as 1999 when Trump questioned whether or not the senator was a war hero during a 60 Minutes interview.
John was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for more than five years. The former Navy pilot previously told PEOPLE that he survived thanks to his “faith in God, faith in my fellow prisoners and faith in my country.”
“He was captured… Does being captured make you a hero? I don’t know. I’m not sure,” Trump said at the time.
RELATED: Trump Ditched Statement Paying Tribute to Sen. McCain, Tweeting 2 Sentences Instead: Report
Trump’s comment resurfaced during the 2016 Republican presidential primary when Trump blatantly said John was not a war hero.
“He’s not a war hero,” Trump said at the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa in July 2015. “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
Trump and John would continue to go head-to-head up until the senator’s death.
In his final letter, shared after he lost his battle to cancer, John expressed his gratitude for his accomplished life and the importance of sticking to American ideals despite “present difficulties.”
According to some observers, it also took subtle shots at Trump through mentions of “tribal rivalries” and “[hiding] behind walls rather than [tearing] them down.”
Most recently, in February, Trump sat down for a private lunch with broadcast news anchors ahead of his State of the Union address and unleashed a plethora of jabs at fellow political leaders, The New York Times reported.
“He wrote a book and the book bombed,” Trump said of the senator. John’s latest and final book The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights and Other Appreciations was published in April 2018.
Trump’s verbal attack came after he recounted the story in which John voted against an Obamacare repeal — which he considered the ultimate betrayal.
Shortly after the news broke of Trump’s remarks, Meghan clapped back at the president on Twitter yet again.
“The president’s obsession with my father 6 months after his death is pathetic and telling — even at a time when he should be focusing on his message to the American public and the state of our union — the greatness of my father’s life and legacy haunts you,” she wrote.
