You’d think Sen. John McCain, who in part platformed his North Vietnam prisoner-of-war status into a long-running and lucrative political career, would understand better than the average bear the importance of an America First, Other Countries Second mentality — you know, the kind ushered in nationwide by President Donald Trump.
But he doesn’t. He apparently thinks such widespread pro-America, MAGA-style views are “spurious” and completely out of touch with U.S. values.
And once again — we’re handed an example of why McCain doesn’t deserve to wear the GOP button.
“To fear the world we have organized and led for three-quarters of a century, to abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international leadership and our duty to remain ‘the last best hope of earth’ for the sake of some half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past that Americans consigned to the ash heap of history,” McCain said, after receiving the National Constitution Center’s Liberty Medal, The Hill reported.
Come again?
Yes, that’s a mouthful. But in layman’s, McCain was suggesting, without using Trump’s name, that Trump-style patriotism was, well, unpatriotic. In other words: Out with the Make America Great Again; in with the Nod to U.N.-style Globalism — that’s McCain’s view.
Or this: Patriotism’s good. But only in certain amounts. And only when it comes by way of soft diplomatic talk.
Apparently, he’s forgotten that America is set apart and above other nations of the world because of its rather revolutionary belief that rights come from God, not government — meaning, the individual matters more than the collective. Did he leave that love-of-country in the POW camp?
Or is it just that McCain hates Trump so much that he can’t even admit an America First message and policy platform is just what the doctor ordered, post-Barack Obama progressive-socialism?
What a sad speech, either way.
Most Americans held captive by another country would kiss the U.S. ground they walked on, once freed and returned to home soil. McCain? Yes, he likes America — appreciates America’s freedoms. But apparently, even after five-plus years in a North Vietnam prison camp, he just doesn’t appreciate America’s freedoms enough that he wouldn’t be willing to trade some sovereignty to bolster up foreign governments, trade some freedoms if it meant taking down this president a notch or two.
First appeared at The Washington Times.
