One of Senator McCain's last wishes was that Donald Trump not attend his funeral

August 27, 2018 | by Junie Sihlangu

Even in death politics still carry on. Senator John McCain made it clear that he didn’t want President Donald Trump at his funeral.

The Senator passed away on Saturday after battling brain cancer. McCain and Trump have been at loggerheads for quite some time and openly shown disdain for one another.

Before he passed on, Senator John McCain, 81, made it clear that he didn’t want President Donald Trump at his funeral. In a book that he co-wrote, “The Restless Wave,” McCain, included an argument for pro-free trade and pro-immigration Republicanism.

He stated that these were his effort at preserving the American-led international order that Trump had shunned. In the book, the Senator scorned the President’s apparent admiration for autocrats and his disdain for refugees.

President Trump didn't make even the most cursory public show of respect for John McCain, against whom he had continued a personal grievance even as it was apparent that the the senator was losing his battle with brain cancer https://t.co/ppc0wP1L8b
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 27, 2018

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“He seems uninterested in the moral character of world leaders and their regimes,” McCain wrote about the President. “The appearance of toughness or a reality show facsimile of toughness seems to matter more than any of our values. Flattery secures his friendship, criticism his enmity,” he added.

The two men never liked each other. Their differences included their opposing values and public disagreements over politics.

McCain was an US Senator from Arizona for over three decades. He was also a former prisoner of war in Vietnam who ran unsuccessfully for US president in 2008.

Donald Trump’s Instagram post about the death of John McCain features... wait for it... a photo of Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/sRKFTWfrZS
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) August 26, 2018

The clash between McCain and Trump was so evident that on his passing the White House failed to issue a statement. Trump only wrote a brief Twitter condolence to McCain’s family.

He followed up that tweet with complaints about the Russia investigation and boasted about the economy. Then Trump went off to play golf.

Bush and Obama asked to give eulogies at McCain funeral, Trump not invited: report https://t.co/WTnpGGmYKe pic.twitter.com/kX481UhVbF
— The Hill (@thehill) August 27, 2018

With Trump banned from McCain’s funeral, the Senator had another wish which involved two former Presidents. McCain requested George W. Bush and Barack Obama to speak at his funeral.

The event will take place at the US Naval Academy in Maryland on a date that will still be announced. The Senator’s body is also set to lie-in-state in the Capitol Rotunda.

When Trump announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in June 2015, he suggested that many Mexican immigrants were criminals and "rapists." McCain denounced him for using language that "fired up the crazies."

In 2016, during the presidential campaign, Trump mocked McCain for being captured and tortured during the Vietnam War. He said McCain shouldn’t be looked at as a war hero.

John McCain asked George W. Bush and Barack Obama to deliver eulogies, and Donald Trump not to attend his funeral. https://t.co/Fa576stocH pic.twitter.com/jkxoK6YjTy
— Cali Dreaming NaphiSoc (@NaphiSoc) August 27, 2018

The two also came into political conflict when the Senator called out Trump’s encouragement of torture during war. McCain also cast the deciding vote that destroyed Trump’s bid to repeal Obamacare.

It’s been reported that the current plan for McCain’s funeral was for Vice President Mike Pence to attend the service.