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The late Sen. John McCain’s youngest son, Army 1st Lt. Jimmy McCain, told CNN on Tuesday that he has changed his voter registration to Democrat and plans to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.
His endorsement of the vice president arrives after Republican candidate Donald Trump received widespread backlash following reports that one of his campaign aidespushed a stafferat Arlington National Cemetery during a visit to the burial ground last week. Following the visit, the former president’s campaign social media posted videos and images taken at the cemetery — including photos in Section 60,an area reserved for recently deceased service members with strict rules surrounding media presence.
Trump has since suggested that it was Gold Star families, not his campaign, who distributed images and videos of him at the cemetery.
“It just blows me away,” McCain, who has served in the military for 17 years, told CNN. He added that “these men and women that are laying in the ground there have no choice” in being part of a political campaign backdrop.
“Many of these men and women, who served their country, chose to do something greater than themselves,” McCain continued. “They woke up one morning, they signedonthe dotted line, they put their right hand up, and they chose to serve their country. And that’s an experience that Donald Trump has not had. And I think that might be something that he thinks about a lot.”
Trump, whoavoided the military draft multiple times, has a long history of insulting U.S. service members andveterans. In August, hedoubled downon his claim that the the Presidential Medal of Freedom is superior to the military Medal of Honor because the former involves no sacrifice.
The Atlantichas also reported that Trump privately disparaged U.S. service members and veterans during a trip to France in 2018 and called Marines who died at Belleau Wood “suckers” and soldiers who were buried at Aisne-Marne American Cemetery “losers.” Although Trumpdeniesthis, John Kelly, his former White House chief of staff, confirmedmany of the claims in the story, adding that at one point, Trump did not want to be seen with military amputees because “it doesn’t look good for [him].”
During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump infamously took aim at longtime Republican senator John McCain for having been captured during the Vietnam War. “He’s not a war hero,” Trumpsaid. “He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
The Vietnam veteran was not only shot down and tortured as a prisoner of war from 1967-1973, but he refused early release because other American soldiers had been imprisoned longer. When the senator died, Trump reportedlysaid: “We’re not going to support that loser’s funeral.”
When speaking to CNN, Jimmy McCain called the altercation between the Trump campaign aide and a cemetery staffer a “violation” and “a painful experience.” McCain, who had been registered independent for years, told the outlet that he “would get involved in any way I could” to help Harris win.
