John McCain’s son, Jimmy McCain, expressed his disapproval of Donald Trump’s attendance at a wreath-laying ceremony for fallen soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. In an interview with CNN, Jimmy, the youngest son of the late senator and former presidential candidate, revealed that he switched his political affiliation from independent to Democrat.
He called Trump’s presence at the memorial “a violation.” Ironically, John McCain himself faced backlash for using footage of Arlington National Cemetery in a 1999 campaign ad while running for president.
At the time, the controversy was significant enough that McCain was forced to remove the footage from his ad. The LA Times reported in 1999 that “McCain to Remove Arlington Footage From Campaign Ad,” after the Army stated that the campaign had not requested permission to film there and that any such request would have been denied due to restrictions on partisan activity at military sites.
In the original campaign ad, McCain was shown walking through Arlington’s gravestones, with a voiceover highlighting his military service and stating that he would “never forget those heroes with whom he served.” It remains unclear whether Jimmy McCain was aware of this when criticizing Trump’s presence at the cemetery.
Jimmy McCain, speaking with CNN’s Jake Tapper, expressed his frustration: “It just blows me away. These men and women that are laying in the ground there have no choice” about being part of a political moment. “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.”
He continued to emphasize his point by contrasting those who served with Trump’s lack of military experience: “Many of these men and women… chose to do something greater than themselves. They woke up one morning, they signed on the dotted line, they put their right hand up, and they chose to serve their country. And that’s an experience that Donald Trump has not had. And I think that might be something that he thinks about a lot.”
During the interview, Tapper repeated a debunked claim that Trump had called veterans “suckers and losers,” and McCain shared that his shift to the Democratic Party was driven by a desire to improve the country. He also stated that he would be voting for Kamala Harris in the upcoming election.