Donald Trump Touts Support For Veterans Following Comments About John McCain

Donald Trump may be in hot water with much of his voter base over his mockery for John McCain as a POW, but it’s not stopping him from claiming support of veterans as his primary purpose. In fact, Trump is tying purported support of veterans to a previous series of statements that made him the center of controversy.

Saturday evening, the voter base was still reeling from Donald Trump’s announcement that he doesn’t consider McCain a war hero because the man was captured.

“He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured. I hate to tell you.”

Before the astonishment as this statement could wear off, Trump was on Facebook, attempting to do damage control. He quickly changed his story, insisting that he supports all troops, captured or not, and that his objections to McCain are not based on his status as a POW but on his failure to fix America’s treatment of veterans.

“I have great respect for all those who serve in our military including those that weren’t captured and are also heroes.”

Whatever level of respect Donald Trump may have for “all who serve,” there’s no denying that McCain did indeed serve, and that Trump did indeed say that McCain is not a war hero — and that people are outraged.

Perhaps noticing that his Facebook post was failing to quell the outpouring of fury that resulted from attacking McCain, not on a basis of any policies or positions, but for being a prisoner of war, Trump went on to post further about his support of veterans — or rather, to point the finger at immigrants, instead of himself.

“It’s a national embarrassment that an illegal immigrant can walk across the border and receive free health care and one of our Veterans that has served our country is put on a waiting list and gets no care.”

It’s certainly a shame when veterans can’t get the care they need — Donald Trump is right about that. However, he does not make clear how he thinks immigrants are responsible — or how he thinks a fresh attack on immigration is relevant to Trump’s own attack on an American military veteran.

Donald Trump has bragged about leading certain polls, but he’s alienating large portions of his voter base. Meanwhile, other Republican hopefuls are disavowing Trump’s statements, distancing themselves from his platform, calling him unfit for office, and even apologizing to the public for Trump’s statements.

It’s not clear yet whether Donald Trump’s following will accept his quick change from insulting a veteran and POW to insisting he supports veterans, but the impact of the original statements is clear in Trump’s rush to correct and adjust them.

[Photo by: Michael Vadon]