John McCain is poking Trump where it hurts this week
Trump has given us plenty of opportunities to learn how sensitive he is to criticism. And Trump seems particularly sensitive to his chief Republican antagonist in the Senate, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).
The president still hasn't forgotten that night almost a year ago when McCain gave a thumbs-down vote, ending Republicans' hopes of repealing Obamacare. While in Dallas last week to rev up his base at the National Rifle Association, Trump couldn't resist a dig at McCain, who is at home in Arizona being treated for a brutal form of brain cancer.
All that is why it's a safe assumption that Trump views what McCain's doing this week as a giant middle finger from back home in Arizona. Intentions are hard to decipher, but McCain is poking Trump right where it could hurt the president the most this week, and it's elevating the two politicians' battle for the soul of the Republican Party.
McCain is publicly engineering a bid to tank Trump's pick to lead the CIA, Gina Haspel. He said in a statement Wednesday that the fact that Haspel refused to say in her confirmation hearing that torture is wrong “is disqualifying.”
McCain is not expected to travel to Washington to vote against Haspel, but his words carry weight as a kind of Senate dean on war and torture. McCain was tortured as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War and was a vocal opponent after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, of waterboarding, which is now banned as an interrogation practice.
On Thursday, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) told reporters that he's undecided on Haspel, thanks in part to McCain. That could be enough to sink her confirmation or at least force a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Pence.
Then there's McCain's book, which seems to be poking at the touchiest topics for Trump on the Russia investigation. McCain's memoir is out later this month and is getting leaked in dribbles. Much of what we've heard so far definitely helps fuel a narrative in Trumpland that McCain is out to get him.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/john-mccain-is-poking-trump-where-it-hurts-this-week/ar-AAx589d?li=BBnbcA1
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