If nothing else, the grueling omnipresence of someone like Donald Trump is surely inflicting permanent damage on the Republican party at large. Trump's continuous distractions — from his comically stupid remarks on immigration to his annoyance of El Chapo and family — have provided the funnel of exaggeration through which to dump everything so profoundly wrong with Republicans, amplified for headline-grabbing effect and shaped into a toupée-wearing media hound.
The most recent victim of Trump's transition into full-time troll is none other than former presidential nominee John McCain, an occasionally divisive figure within his own party though still very much a Republican. At an event in Iowa on Saturday, Trump questioned McCain's status as a "war hero" before immediately backpedaling. "He's not a war hero," Trump told the audience. "He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured. Perhaps he's a war hero, but — right now — he's said bad things about a lot of people." During an interview with fellow troll Matt Lauer on Monday, Trump took issue with the media's coverage of these comments — telling Lauer and the entire Today team that they actively "misrepresent, just like everybody else."
McCain's response was calculatedly calm, saying Trump needn't issue an apology to him or any politician — though such a gesture toward veterans and their families would be the right move. "When Mr. Trump says he prefers to be with people who are not captured," says McCain, "the great honor of my life was to be in the company of heroes." Donald Trump Troll will surely have a response to McCain's response soon enough, likely upping the stakes of stupidity to even greater heights.
