“We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe,” McCain wrote in the letter. “We weaken it when we hide behind walls, rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals, rather than trust them to be the great force for change they have always been.”<doc-sep>“We’re getting nothing done, my friends. We’re getting nothing done.” It was a few days before the historic Obamacare repeal vote, and Republicans desperately needed John McCain. “It was a dramatic and consequential return for John McCain to the Senate floor.” “What a dramatic morning this is turning out to be, with John McCain making that surprise return to Washington.” “And McCain’s vote is going to give leadership a lot more breathing room.” But the maverick of the Senate had just been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, and he was playing hard to get. “We’ve been spinning our wheels on too many important issues, because we keep trying to find a way to win without help from across the aisle.” But would he vote with his party, or would he defect? “I will not vote for this bill as it is today.” This was the kind of moment that John McCain lives for. He is going to be the deciding vote, and he’s got control of a major piece of legislation in his hand. “You heard John McCain. A really historic moment. Trying to set a new tone when it comes to fixing our health care system.” When you go against the grain in Washington, you get a lot of attention. “Shutting down the government injured the people of my state. Why? Why would we want to do that?” John McCain had a big ego, and he liked the attention. But also, I do think that the maverick aspect to McCain was real. He saw a lot of the things that went on in Washington as semi-idiotic, or corrupt. “I think the Congress of the United States — both Republicans and Democrats — should be ashamed of themselves. These may be worthy projects. They may be. Generally they aren’t. How many more lawmakers, staffers, government officials, and contractors have to go to jail before we actually fix this process?” He liked challenging authority. It may be part of that is just growing up in a military family and having all that military experience, where you’re subject to so much authority. “I have trouble with this. More than two-syllable words —” In the political phase of his life, he was willing to step up, take a chance, and shake up the system. “Eleven million people live in the shadows, and they live here in de facto amnesty, and, by God, they are being exploited every single day.” Of course, he switched back and forth when it suited his politics. “We will secure the borders first when I am president of the United States. I am proud that Republicans are the party of lower taxes. I cannot in good conscience vote in favor of tax cuts.” There have been so many John McCains over the years. He came to Congress as this exalted war hero who’d already had a national reputation because of his time as a P.O.W. in Vietnam. McCain was shot down, held for years in terrible conditions in the Hanoi Hilton. He had a high profile because of his father. “The commander in chief of our Pacific forces, Admiral John S. McCain Jr.” “As you know, we are living in a troubled world —” They knew that they had something of a celebrity prisoner there. He was tortured, subjected to really unthinkable experiences. He resisted and resisted, but ultimately did make a confession. That really haunted him through the rest of his life. He felt that he had caved and betrayed his country. When he returned from Vietnam, to much acclaim, he was an ambitious guy, and he quickly turned to politics. “John McCain, a name Arizonans are talking about.” He ran for the House. Came in as a pretty conventional conservative — somebody who wanted to get on board the Reagan Revolution. “Speaker, like a poor fellow who brought his horse to water but could not make it drink, Walter Mondale proposes to throw more tax money at the deficit with little chance of making it shrink.” But there was a watershed moment coming for John McCain — “— a major congressional scandal —” The Keating Five Scandal. “Charles Keating, a millionaire banker who has come to embody the savings and loan scandal —” A group of senators — a bipartisan group — had interceded on behalf of a big businessman, and they tried to help him out of a regulatory problem. It was a big scandal at the moment, because the S&L crisis was huge back then. “Do you swear under oath to this committee you were unaware of that at the time?” McCain was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing. “But I understand why the committee made the arrangements they did.” He thought it be besmirched his honor, which is probably the most important thing to John McCain besides his family, is his honor. This was a searing experience for McCain, and it really helped shape his later image as a maverick, because he immediately became someone, I think, who wanted to shake up the system and rein in the influence of money and politics. “There’s too much money washing around, and this money makes good people do bad things, and bad people do worse things.” John McCain was ready to do that. His party really wasn’t. They liked the campaign system the way it was, particularly Mitch McConnell. “To effectively discuss issues in this country, one must have access to money.” He was the leading foe of John McCain. “Who do you want to be the next president of these United States? McCain! That’s right.” So McCain had presidential ambitions. 2000 seemed like a good opportunity for him. This was the year of the famous Straight Talk Express. He was really letting it hang out in a lot of ways. “If I were a tree, I would be a —” “If I were a tree, I would be a root. What does that mean? I’d be glad to tell you —” But he ran into a real buzzsaw with the Bush family and Karl Rove. “Let me finish. Let me finish.” “All right, then.” The Bush campaign did some really tough negative advertising. “McCain’s campaign is crawling with lobbyists.” “His conservative hometown paper warns — It’s time the rest of the nation learns about the McCain we know.” McCain was stung when he came back to the Senate, you could tell. “Gentlemen —” “Senator John McCain, the Republican, and Senator Barack Obama, the —” In 2008, this was really John McCain’s last opportunity. He took the nomination, but he was really in trouble from the start. Obama, the celebrity candidate, the economic collapse — “The fundamentals of our economy are strong —” — picking Sarah Palin as his running mate. “This is absolutely overwhelming.” People really questioned John McCain’s judgment on that. Even at the end, McCain was still fighting the leaders of his party. “Yesterday, I received a call from President Putin of Russia —” Being cozy with the Russians, pulling back in Asia. To John McCain, this was anathema. He wouldn’t mention Trump by name, but he would talk about failures of American foreign policy and the conduct. “— refuse the obligations of international leadership for the sake of some half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems.” This was amped up more after the diagnosis of brain cancer. I think that was also part of his vote on the health care repeal. At the climactic moment, he walked out onto the floor, turned thumbs down, and killed the repeal effort. It was one of his last big acts as a U.S. senator. “Making news in the 11th hour —” “The resistance to President Trump had its biggest victory yet.” “This is a major defeat.” “You could look at this one moment like a Renaissance painting.” “It was unbelievable.” McCain wasn’t going to go quietly.<doc-sep>President Donald Trump may not be among those paying their respects at Sen. John McCain's funeral, but his wife still could be President Donald Trump may not be among those paying their respects at Sen. John McCain‘s funeral, but his wife still could be. Responding to speculation about whether Melania Trump will attend the funeral without her husband, a White House spokesperson for the first lady tells PEOPLE, “We have made no announcements, so any reports you are seeing did not come from our office.” Get push notifications with news, features and more. In its morning news reports about Sen. McCain, CNN broadcasted a headline graphic saying that Mrs. Trump will not attend the funeral services. Questions about whether the first lady would be among the mourners honoring Sen. McCain started after The New York Times reported that initial plans indicated that “Vice President Mike Pence was to attend, but not President Trump,” who has publicly disparaged Sen. McCain on numerous occasions. “Our thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathy to the McCain Family,” Mrs. Trump, 48, tweeted after Sen. McCain died of brain cancer at the age of 81 on Saturday. “Thank you Senator McCain for your service to the nation.” In April, Mrs. Trump traveled to Houston for the funeral of former first lady Barbara Bush, which Mr. Trump did not attend. 700011968_js_4067_9e40c48c3f91c2177a87acf6ceaf19e6.jpg John McCain Sen. McCain “will be laid to rest at the U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis, Maryland,” according to his official website, which notes the funeral schedule will be announced at a later time. Before his death, Sen. McCain asked that former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush speak at his funeral, and Obama and Bush have already been requested to offer eulogies. Meanwhile, former Vice President Joe Biden will speak at an Arizona service in Sen. McCain’s honor. Sen. McCain will lie in state in the Arizona Capitol and Capitol Rotunda — only the 13th time a senator has done so, the Times reported. RELATED VIDEO: Senator John McCain Dies at Age 81 The burial location is expected to be near his classmate and lifelong friend, Chuck Larson, the Arizona Republic reported. In an emotional tweet, Sen. McCain’s wife Cindy McCain, 64, wrote on Saturday, “My heart is broken. I am so lucky to have lived the adventure of loving this incredible man for 38 years. He passed the way he lived, on his own terms, surrounded by the people he loved, in the place he loved best.” On Friday, his family announced that McCain, “with his usual strength of will,” decided to stop treatment for the stage-four brain cancer he had been battling since its diagnosis last summer.<doc-sep>
Phoenix (AFP) - Late US senator John McCain took a final swipe at Donald Trump in his farewell message to the nation delivered posthumously Monday, denouncing "tribal rivalries," as an aide confirmed the president will not attend the lawmaker's funeral. The message came as Trump found himself mired in controversy over his rather conspicuous failure to pay tribute to McCain, who died Saturday at 81 after a year-long battle with brain cancer. The flag at the White House was at full-staff Monday, and no formal statement came from Trump beyond a brief tweet. On Monday, McCain offered his final thoughts, in a message read by his former campaign manager Rick Davis -- and he did not spare the Republican president. "We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe," McCain said in the statement. "We weaken it when we hide behind walls, rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals, rather than trust them to be the great force for change they have always been," he added -- an apparent reference to Trump's plans for a border wall. "I lived and died a proud American. We are citizens of the world's greatest republic, a nation of ideals, not blood and soil," the former prisoner of war, two-time Republican presidential candidate and titan of US politics said. "Do not despair of our present difficulties but believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here," he said, adding that the country "will get through these challenging times." That appeared to be a reference to Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan. McCain's death has left many American mourning the loss of a national hero who repeatedly challenged the status quo and consistently sought bipartisan solutions to the country's problems. Story continues The longtime senator clashed repeatedly with Trump despite being from the same party, and the president -- who in 2016 famously dismissed McCain as "not a war hero" -- has paid scant tribute to the senator in the wake of his death. With bad blood between them at the boil, McCain reportedly excluded Trump from his funeral ceremonies -- a development that Davis confirmed on Monday. "The president will not be, as far as we know, attending the funeral. That's just a fact," Davis told a press briefing in Arizona. The two men who defeated McCain in his White House campaigns, Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Barack Obama, are expected to deliver eulogies at a Saturday service at the National Cathedral in Washington, a day after McCain's body lies in state in the US Capitol. McCain will be buried Sunday at the US Naval Academy in nearby Annapolis, Maryland in a private funeral service.