Trump under fire for failing to pay tribute to John McCain in Ohio speech

Donald Trump failed to pay tribute to John McCain during his public address on Friday after the former prisoner of war announced he was stopping treatment for his aggressive brain cancer. 

Many leading Republicans, including Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, offered their prayers and support to McCain after his family made the sad announcement on Friday. But the president, who has publicly clashed with McCain since the beginning of his 2016 presidential campaign, has been notably silent.

On Friday, during his speech at a fundraising dinner for the Ohio Republican Party in Columbus, Trump spoke about illegal immigration, attacked Democrats and ESPN, and even found time to give shout-outs to Kim and Kanye West.

But he said nothing about the 35-year veteran of Congress who he has frequently attacked over recent years. 

Donald Trump failed to pay tribute to John McCain during his public address on Friday after the former prisoner of war announced he was stopping treatment for his aggressive brain cancer 

Trump even once claimed McCain wasn’t a war hero because he was captured and tortured in Vietnam. ‘I like people who weren’t captured,’ Trump said in July 2015. 

Trump’s silence stood in contrast to the outpouring of support for McCain from fellow Republicans. 

‘I would just ask each and every one of you to hold John McCain in your prayers,’ Ryan said on Friday. ‘John is obviously entering the last stages, and this is a man who served our country in so many ways and capacities —who was a prisoner of war for several years at thee Hanoi Hilton, and then fought for us in Congress, and we just want to keep John McCain, Cindy and their entire family in our prayers.’

McConnell, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Thune, and Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., all paid tribute to the veteran today.

Sources said earlier this year that McCain, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2017, didn’t want Trump to come to his funeral.

Sen. John McCain announced on Friday that he was stopping treatment for his brain cancer

Sen. John McCain announced on Friday that he was stopping treatment for his brain cancer

Meghan, pictured above with with her father, tweeted: 'My family is deeply appreciative of all the love and generosity you have shown us during this past year' 

Meghan, pictured above with with her father, tweeted: ‘My family is deeply appreciative of all the love and generosity you have shown us during this past year’ 

The Arizona Republican was diagnosed with aggressive glioblastoma last summer

The Arizona Republican was diagnosed with aggressive glioblastoma last summer

Meanwhile, Trump did find the time to go on a rant about New York governor Andrew Cuomo who has ramped up his attacks on Trump in recent weeks branding him racist and un-American.

The president told the crowd at the Ohio Republican Party annual dinner on Friday, that Cuomo used to be a fan of his but ‘hated’ him after he ran for office.

Trump, who was notorious for suing people while he was a businessman, also claimed that the governor was extremely litigious and that rampant lawsuits in his state of New York left some people terrified to come to the city.

‘We have in New York, a governor, Gov. Cuomo, sues everybody, you know you go into that state and you get sued,’ he said. 

‘That’s why people don’t want to move in. For that and the fact that it’s the highest taxes.

‘But if you go to New York, you get sued. And people are afraid to go to New York, they want to go.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have expressed sadness at the McCain family's news

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have expressed sadness at the McCain family’s news

McCain's wife Cindy and daughter Meghan posted the family's statement to Twitter on Friday

McCain’s wife Cindy and daughter Meghan posted the family’s statement to Twitter on Friday

‘He recently stated that the new slogan was, ‘America was never great.’ Now, he was so angry at me, you know he hates me, truly hates me. He used to like me, but then I decided to run for office, and he doesn’t like me too much.

‘Hey, Schumer used to love me. Hard to believe, isn’t it? But Cuomo, came out with that by mistake.’

Mocking him, Trump said: ‘He was so angered, because ‘Make America Great Again.’ And he just said, ‘America’s never gonna be great again.’ And that was it. He walks off.’

‘And he was talking socialists, and they were going ‘woah.’… He was – that’s not a good one. I said, that’s job-threatening. Now he’s gonna beat the person that’s running – an actress, you know – but she could get a lot of votes. But he’s gonna win.’

‘How would that look on a hat? ‘America was never great!’ Doesn’t work….Cuomo’s comments are really an insult to generations of American heroes whose blood and sweat and tears built the greatest country the world has ever known. And we are better now than ever before.’

Trump also launched a lengthy attack on Democrats, calling them ‘left-wing haters and radicals’ who are trying to ‘tear down our institutions.’ 

‘Today’s Democrats are not just extreme, they’re really not in a position to govern. They’re just not in a position to govern, when you look at what they are and what they’re doing. Open borders and crime. It’s open borders and crime.’

He also said they’re ‘nasty.’

Trump unleashed the string of insults in a speech Friday at the Ohio Republican Party fundraising dinner in Columbus. The speech was meant to help unite fractious state Republicans heading into the November midterm elections.

Speaking at the Ohio Republican Party annual dinner on Friday, the president went on a rant about the New York governor

Speaking at the Ohio Republican Party annual dinner on Friday, the president went on a rant about the New York governor

President Donald Trump told the crowd that Cuomo used to be a fan of his but 'hated' him after he ran for office

President Donald Trump told the crowd that Cuomo used to be a fan of his but ‘hated’ him after he ran for office

Trump says that with Democrats, ‘it’s always negative, nasty, the way they come after me.’

Polls show that large majorities of Democrats disapprove of Trump’s performance in office, but he says they need to get over it and accept that he’s president.

‘We won the election. We’re going to win again in 2020. … These are nasty people.’

Trump also mentioned Elizabeth Warren, once again calling her Pocahontas – a reference to the claims she used her Native American heritage to advance her career. Warren is 1/32 Native American.

And bashed ESPN over played kneeling during the national anthem.

Trump also talked about his most famous supporter, Kanye West, during the address – but completely failed to mention Gov. John Kasich, one of the president’s 2016 primary opponents and sharpest critics, who skipped the fundraising dinner.

Trump previously attacked Kasich for hindering Troy Balderson’s bid for the state’s 12th District House seat.

Cuomo has ramped up his attacks on Trump in recent weeks branding him racist and un-American

Cuomo has ramped up his attacks on Trump in recent weeks branding him racist and un-American

President Donald Trump speaks during the Ohio Republican Party State Dinner, Friday 

President Donald Trump speaks during the Ohio Republican Party State Dinner, Friday 

On Tuesday, Kasich made his feelings clear about the president, saying ‘I don’t like his leadership style. That’s pretty darn clear and I speak out because I think it’s really important we become a nation of uniters.’

Trump also discussed the Iowa college student was found slain about a month after she disappeared.

Trump raised the case in a speech Friday at an Ohio Republican dinner. The family of 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts has asked that her death not be politicized.

Authorities have charged Cristhian Bahena Rivera, a Mexico native suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, with first-degree murder in Tibbetts’ death.

Trump raised Tibbetts’ case as justification for his attempts to crack down on illegal immigration to the U.S.

He refers to Rivera as ‘this horrible illegal immigrant’ and claims erroneously that journalists didn’t want to cover the story after questions were raised about Rivera’s status.

Trump says ‘what happened to Mollie is a disgrace.’

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