Citizen McCain
In 1973 Trump was sued by the Department of Justice. At that time Trump made it clear that he would not rent apartments in one of his developments to African-Americans. He made sure that the people who worked for him understood that policy.
The lawsuit was based on evidence gathered by testers for the New York City Human Rights Division, which proved that black people who went to Trump buildings were always told there were no apartments available, while white people were always offered units. Every single time.
The year 1973 was also significant for another American. That was the year that naval lieutenant commander John McCain was released from a North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp after five and a half years of abuse, torture and solitary confinement.
McCain was offered early release but he refused, saying he would not agree to go until all the men who had been captured before him were also released. That refusal cost him. He was bound and beaten every two hours. For months.
As the Republican nominee running against Barack Obama for the presidency in 2008, John McCain gave a town hall in October. In it a woman accused Barack Obama of being someone she couldn’t trust. She accused Obama of being foreign born. McCain shook his head sadly, took the microphone away from her and said, “No ma’am, no ma’am, he’s a decent family man and citizen, he’s just someone I happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues.”
John McCain volunteered for combat duty in Vietnam. Trump got five deferments so he wouldn’t have to go to Vietnam at all, including a fraudulent one invented by a bribed doctor. When McCain ran for president against Trump in 2016, Trump said of McCain, “He’s a war hero because he got captured. I like people that weren’t captured .”
When, in his first “administration,” Trump and his pirate ship of thugs and thieves tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as “Obamacare,” offering a pathetic replacement called the “skinny repeal option,” then Senator John McCain cast his vote against it. It was defeated. Even though he disagreed with much in the ACA, McCain understood that repeal would mean that millions of Americans would lose their healthcare and have nothing adequate to replace it with. Many would die. Many would go bankrupt.
Senator John McCain died from a brain tumour in 2018. While there was much in his politics that I disagreed with, I cannot fault the man. He led a courageous and decent life. He was honest and compassionate.
This is just a reminder that it’s still possible to be a Republican and be a human being. Senator John McCain was both. That’s all.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.