Jimmy McCain spoke at the 2018 memorial service for his father, the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
Try as they might, Trump aides cannot seem to quell criticism of their recent photo op at Arlington National Cemetery, which allegedly included a physical altercation.
The latest high-profile condemnation comes from Jimmy McCain, the son of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who was also a Purple Heart recipient who served in the Navy and spent several years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. The younger McCain, who is currently serving in the Army, told CNN that he thought the incident was a “violation” of the cemetery, a resting place for fallen soldiers—including his own grandfather and great-grandfather. (Sen. McCain is buried at the U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery.)
“It just blows me away,” McCain told CNN of the Trump team’s fight at Arlington, adding, “These men and women that are laying in the ground there have no choice” about whether to participate in a campaign event.
As I reported last week, two Trump campaign staffers clashed with a cemetery official where Trump had been attending a wreath-laying ceremony to honor soldiers who died in the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan. A statement from the Army later confirmed that the staffer had been “abruptly pushed aside” after they tried to enforce cemetery rules that prohibit filming and photographing in a section where recent US casualties are buried, which is forbidden by federal law. (NPR was the first to report news of the incident.) Steven Cheung, communications director for the Trump campaign, denied the report of a physical altercation, while Trump himself has called the incident a “made-up story.“
The Trump team ultimately got their content, which included a TikTok video suggesting President Biden was responsible for the deaths of the soldiers who died during the withdrawal from Afghanistan, plus various photos posted to X by Trump campaign staffers. McCain, who CNN reports enlisted in the Marine Corps when he was 17 and currently serves as an intelligence officer in the 158th Infantry Regiment, said that in doing so, Trump had disrespected the sacrifices of the people buried there. “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,” he told CNN. “It’s about these people who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the name of their country.”
“Many of these men and women, who served their country, chose to do something greater than themselves,” he added. “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.”
McCain’s remarks are likely a reference to Trump’s infamous record of avoiding military service. Not only did Trump not serve in the military—he famously claimed he had bone spurs, allowing him to avoid serving in Vietnam—he has also openly denigrated those who have: He infamously attacked the elder McCain, saying, “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
Since the confrontation last Monday, Trump’s team has refused to acknowledge any sort of mistake at the cemetery last week, even opting instead to attack and denigrate Trump’s critics. As I reported, Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), defended Trump’s actions and told Harris to “go to hell” for criticizing the visit…though she never did. Over the weekend, the Trump campaign put out a video of some of the families of the fallen soldiers present at the cemetery last week blasting Harris over the Afghanistan withdrawal and for failing to be present at the cemetery, accusing her of “playing politics.”
But some feel differently: As I wrote last week, the family of Master Sgt. Andrew Marckesano—a Green Beret who reportedly died by suicide in 2020 after serving eight combat tours—told the New York Times they were upset his gravestone had been included in a picture in which Trump posed grinning with a thumbs up at the gravesite of Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, located next to Marckesano’s.
McCain also told CNN that he changed his voter registration from Independent to Democrat a few weeks back and would be voting for Vice President Kamala Harris this November, adding that he “would get involved in any way I could” to help her win. His mother, Cindy McCain, a registered Republican, endorsed Biden in 2020 but does not appear to have made an endorsement ahead of this year’s election. But don’t expect McCain’s sister, the conservative firebrand and former co-host of The View, Meghan McCain, to join her brother. In a post on X last week responding to someone who called on her to publicly endorse the Harris-Walz ticket, McCain said that was a “fever dream,” adding, “I’m a lifelong, generational conservative.”
But Harris—or the threat of Trump—is converting plenty of other Republicans: As I reported last week, more than 200 former GOP officials—including former McCain staffers—endorsed Harris in an open letter, writing, “Of course, we have plenty of honest, ideological disagreements with Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz. That’s to be expected. The alternative, however, is simply untenable.”
Jimmy McCain appears to agree: “For me to be with [my father] towards the end of his life, hearing things [from Trump] like, ‘he was a loser because he was captured’—I don’t think I could ever overlook that,” he told CNN.
Spokespeople for the Trump and Harris campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
