“My fellow Americans, whom I have gratefully served for sixty years, and especially my fellow Arizonans, “Thank you for the privilege of serving you and for the rewarding life that service in uniform and in public office has allowed me to lead. I have tried to serve our country honorably. I have made mistakes, but I hope my love for America will be weighed favorably against them. “I have often observed that I am the luckiest person on earth. I feel that way even now as I prepare for the end of my life. I have loved my life, all of it. I have had experiences, adventures and friendships enough for ten satisfying lives, and I am so thankful. Like most people, I have regrets. But I would not trade a day of my life, in good or bad times, for the best day of anyone else’s. “I owe that satisfaction to the love of my family. No man ever had a more loving wife or children he was prouder of than I am of mine. And I owe it to America. To be connected to America’s causes – liberty, equal justice, respect for the dignity of all people – brings happiness more sublime than life’s fleeting pleasures. Our identities and sense of worth are not circumscribed but enlarged by serving good causes bigger than ourselves. “‘Fellow Americans’ – that association has meant more to me than any other. I lived and died a proud American. We are citizens of the world’s greatest republic, a nation of ideals, not blood and soil. We are blessed and are a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance those ideals at home and in the world. We have helped liberate more people from tyranny and poverty than ever before in history. We have acquired great wealth and power in the process. “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. 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. “We are three-hundred-and-twenty-five million opinionated, vociferous individuals. We argue and compete and sometimes even vilify each other in our raucous public debates. But we have always had so much more in common with each other than in disagreement. If only we remember that and give each other the benefit of the presumption that we all love our country we will get through these challenging times. We will come through them stronger than before. We always do. “Ten years ago, I had the privilege to concede defeat in the election for president. I want to end my farewell to you with the heartfelt faith in Americans that I felt so powerfully that evening. I feel it powerfully still. “Do not despair of our present difficulties but believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history. “Farewell, fellow Americans. God bless you, and God bless America.”<doc-sep>The nation can use a touch of McCain’s stubborn optimism at this or any moment. The TAKE with Rick Klein There's comfort in declaring, as the nation mourns a hero and a patriot, that the legacy of Sen. John McCain lives on. But good luck finding that legacy in today's politics, in McCain's party, and especially in his home state this week. The truth is there is no obvious heir to the McCain legacy in public life today. The president of the United States is in many ways an anti-McCain figure – making his feuds with the late senator personal, and creating an ideology that centers on his personality. All three of the Republicans vying for a Senate seat in Arizona in Tuesday's primaries have pledged loyalty to President Donald Trump. Just hours before McCain passed, one of those Republicans declared on the trail that the state "cannot afford" to "elect another senator who is cut from the same cloth as Jeff Flake and John McCain." The nation can use a touch of McCain's stubborn optimism at this or any moment. It could also remember his gallows humor, and a favorite McCain quote comes to mind – one he invariably delivered with a smile: "In words of Chairman Mao, ‘It's always darkest before it's totally black.'" The RUNDOWN with MaryAlice Parks In the two states with primary voting Tuesday, Florida and Arizona, several national issues hit close to home, including immigration, border security, environmental protection and gun control. Sunday's mass casualty shooting in Jacksonville, Florida, put that last topic -- the debate about gun safety -- back in the spotlight for sure. David Hogg, one of the student leaders who survived the shooting in Parkland, Florida, last February, when 17 people died, and who helped build a new national movement of youth activists working the issue, encouraged people to confront U.S. senators in the nation's capital Tuesday. Florida's Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, who is in a tough reelection fight, tweeted: "Word of another tragic mass shooting in our state brings shock and outrage." The state's Republican governor Rick Scott, who is running against Nelson for his Senate seat, rushed to Jacksonville in light of the horrific news of another high profile shooting in his state. It has been more than seven years since former Arizona congresswomen Gabby Giffords was shot in the head at an event back in her district. In the last several years, Giffords and her husband have become an effective and prolific campaign team, supporting gun safety legislation and candidates ready to back reforms. On Sunday, Giffords wrote, "The nation once again looks to Florida with grief and heavy hearts. The massacre in Jacksonville is yet another devastating indictment of this country's inability to keep our kids safe." The TIP with Arlette Saenz The McCains and the Bidens share a special bond. Last year, the country watched as former Vice President Joe Biden publicly consoled Sen. John McCain's daughter Meghan as her father battled brain cancer -- the same disease that claimed the life of Biden's son Beau. "Beau talked about your dad's courage, not about illness, but about courage. So there is hope, and if anybody can make it, your dad [can]," Biden told her on ABC's The View. That moment -- the shared understanding of a loved one fighting for their lives against a grim disease -- opened up a new kind of relationship for Biden and the younger McCain. As she recently told Glamour, "I talk to him all the time, and he checks in on me all the time." Biden was in contact with Meghan at the end of the week, an aide to the former vice president said, as her father neared his final days. Biden was asked to speak at a memorial service for his decades-long friend McCain in Phoenix on Thursday, an aide to the former VP said -- part of a five day span of memorial events for McCain. The former senator will first lie in state at the Arizona State Capitol on Wednesday -- what would have been his 82nd birthday. He will also lie in state at the U.S. Capitol on Friday, where Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he will introduce a resolution to rename a Senate office building after McCain. On Saturday, former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama will reportedly both eulogize the senator at a memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral. Bush's spokesman told ABC the president was "honored to have been asked to speak." And on Sunday, McCain will be laid to rest at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis -- where he started his life of service to his beloved country. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY President Trump and the first lady participate in a bilateral meeting with the President of the Republic of Kenya and Mrs. Margaret Kenyattaat 1:55 p.m. The president and the first lady host a dinner celebrating Evangelical leadership at 6:45 p.m. The American flags at the U.S. Capitol and the White House fly at half-staff today in honor of Sen. McCain. The McCain family spokesman holds a press conference this morning at the Arizona State Capitol to give more details on the memorial services ahead for the senator. Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and adviser, speaks at the Organization of American States at 2 p.m. about the administration's efforts to advance women's empowerment. QUOTE OF THE DAY "The important thing is not to look back and figure out all of the things that I should have done - and there are lots of those - but to look back with gratitude. You will never talk to anyone who's as fortunate as John McCain." – The senator, veteran and GOP maverick John McCain in the HBO documentary "John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls," which debuted about three months before his death. THE PLAYLIST ABC News' "Start Here" Podcast. Monday morning's episode features ABC News Chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl and ABC News' Ron Claiborne reflecting on their time covering the late Sen. Jon McCain on the campaign trail. And, ABC News' Meghan Keneally checks in from Arizona on what McCain's death means for Tuesday's Republican primary. https://bit.ly/2Ohkpz8 NEED TO READ John McCain, a hero and leader who took causes more seriously than himself: ANALYSIS. McCain learned long ago - through a life that included deep suffering, both physical and mental - not to take himself, or things said by his critics, too seriously. (Rick Klein) https://abcn.ws/2PC2nbv McCain will lie in state in Arizona, then at US Capitol, funeral details show. The family of Sen. John McCain has released details of his funeral and memorial services, with the ceremonies to begin in Arizona and end at the National Cathedral, where speakers will include former President George W. Bush. (Maia Davis) https://abcn.ws/2oacpE5 Inside John McCain's 'Three Amigos' friendship with Sen. Lindsey Graham and former Sen. Joe Lieberman. "It was so classically American," Lieberman, who retired from the Senate in 2013, said. "If you looked at our biographies, the three of us couldn't be more different. Really I mean, religiously, geographically, our own experience. Yet there we were in the U.S. Senate together, and we became just the fastest of friends." (Arlette Saenz) https://abcn.ws/2wgS3xp John McCain's death means potential legal battle to fill his Senate seat. The timing of McCain's death results in a complicated process that could end up in a court battle in a state that will be key to determining the balance of power in the U.S. Senate this midterm cycle. (John Verhovek) https://abcn.ws/2PGPQDy John McCain's complicated relationship with President Trump. Trump's fixation on the former presidential nominee seemed to begin well before he came to Washington. Back in 1999, Trump insulted McCain's military service, a foreshadowing of his message on the campaign trail. (Ali Rogin) https://abcn.ws/2MTZZhz Trump's biggest legal danger is from US prosecutors in New York, not Mueller: Dershowitz. "I think [Trump] has constitutional defenses to the investigation being conducted by Mueller," into Russian interference in the 2016 election, said Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard Law School professor emeritus on ABC News' "This Week." (Mitchell Alva) https://abcn.ws/2P8mGfj Sun Belt showdowns: What to watch for in Tuesday's primaries: ANALYSIS. Two big, diverse, and scorchingly hot states that were key to President Donald Trump's 2016 victory highlight the last major multi-state day of voting in the 2018 primaries. Voters in Arizona and Florida - plus Oklahoma, where there are a few scattered runoffs - will choose candidates for the midterms on Tuesday. (Rick Klein) https://abcn.ws/2Nl61oB How the environment has become a key factor in Florida's elections. As Florida reckons with two algae phenomena -- a blue-green nutrient-rich algae in Lake Okeechobee, and the naturally occurring red tide in the Gulf Coast shores -- the midterm elections are heating up in the Sunshine State. Floridians say they have one thing on their mind: how to protect their environment and their economy. (Lissette Rodriguez) https://abcn.ws/2BNPVlT In Florida Senate race, Rick Scott treads carefully around Trump. Since launching his U.S. Senate campaign to unseat longtime Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in April, Florida's GOP Gov. Rick Scott, an early and vocal Trump supporter, has taken a markedly cautious approach to a president who has consistently injected political chaos into an already uncertain midterm election landscape. (John Verhovek and Lissette Rodriguez) https://abcn.ws/2MPVm8q Pope Francis declines to comment on allegations of sexual abuse cover up in DC. In the midst of an already contentious visit to a country ripe with anger over neglected abuses within the Catholic church, Pope Francis declined to address the contents of a letter released Sunday morning alleging that he knew about sex abuse allegations against former Washington, D.C., archbishop Cardinal Theodore McCarrick for years and didn't take proper action. (Cheyenne Haslett) https://abcn.ws/2MSyYv6 The Washington Post reports that Trump nixed a statement prepared by the White House praising McCain, telling senior aids he wanted to post a brief tweet instead. https://wapo.st/2BQdQ4e Election experts are raising concerns about reports that teenagers hacked "clones" of state election systems at Def Con, a hacking conference held last month in Las Vegas, according to ProPublica. https://bit.ly/2Lup7Xj The Note is a daily ABC News feature that highlights the key political moments of the day ahead. Please check back tomorrow for the latest.<doc-sep>
Late Sen. John McCain’s close friend Rick Davis, a Republican political consultant, read an emotional letter written by the Arizona Republican, who died of stage-four brain cancer Saturday night at age 81, for a crowd in Phoenix, Arizona, on Monday afternoon. The letter, read aloud by Davis at McCain’s request, addressed his gratitude for his accomplished life and the importance of sticking to American ideals despite “present difficulties.” According to some observers, it also took subtle shots at President Donald Trump through mentions of “tribal rivalries” and “[hiding] behind walls rather than [tearing] them down.” McCain’s daughter Meghan McCain also tweeted the letter. McCain, Phoenix, USA - 27 Aug 2018 Credit: Matt York/AP/REX/Shutterstock RELATED: Funeral Arrangements Underway for Senator John McCain At the start of his posthumous note, McCain thanked Americans and Arizonans for allowing him to serve them for more than 60 years. “I’ve tried to serve our country honorably,” the late six-term senator wrote. “I’ve made mistakes, but I hope my love for America will be weighed favorably against them.” The Vietnam War veteran continued: “I’ve often observed that I am the luckiest person on earth. I feel that way even now as I prepare for the end of my life. I’ve loved my life — all of it. I’ve had experiences, adventures, enough for 10 satisfying lives. I am so thankful. Like most, people, I have regrets, but I would not trade my life, in good or bad times for anybody else’s.” F:PHOTOMediaFactory ActionsRequests DropBox48475#Sierra Blanco PhotographyDSC_9317a.jpg John McCain at daughter Meghan McCain’s wedding | Credit: Sierra Blanco Photography McCain also thanked his family — “No man ever had a more loving wife or children he was prouder of than I am of mine,” he wrote — and attributed his happiness to fighting for American values, including “liberty, equal justice, respect for the dignity of all people … We are citizens of the world’s greatest republic, a nation of ideals, not blood and soil. We are blessed and are a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance those ideals at home and in the world.” Next, he turned to a more challenging topic: the state of political discourse in the U.S. and, perhaps implicitly, President Trump’s effect on it. “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,” he wrote. “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. https://twitter.com/SenJohnMcCain/status/800426572738154496John McCain/Twitter John McCain McCain also emphasized what unites Americans: “We are three-hundred-and-twenty-five million opinionated, vociferous individuals. We argue and compete and sometimes even vilify each other in our raucous public debates. But we have always had so much more in common with each other than in disagreement. If only we remember that and give each other the benefit of the presumption that we all love our country we will get through these challenging times. We will come through them stronger than before. We always do.” He then reminded the public of the last time he said a history-making good-bye — after he lost his bid for president in 2008 to Barack Obama. “Ten years ago, I had the privilege to concede defeat in the election for president. I want to end my farewell to you with the heartfelt faith in Americans that I felt so powerfully that evening. I feel it powerfully still,” he said. RELATED VIDEO: PEOPLE Writer Natasha Stoynoff Breaks Silence, Accuses Donald Trump of Sexual Attack To conclude, McCain acknowledged the challenges of the world today while also instilling hope. “Do not despair of our present difficulties but believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history. Farewell, fellow Americans. God bless you, and God bless America.” John McCain,Sarah Palin John McCain and Sarah Palin | Credit: Kiichiro Sato/AP The 2008 Republican presidential nominee and Trump had a famously tense relationship. In July 2015, then-candidate Trump said Sen. McCain was “not a war hero” because he likes “people that weren’t captured.” McCain was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for more than five years.