John McCain Is Blocking Trump From Funeral

As Arizona Sen. John McCain gets his affairs in order, focus has moved to the 81-year-old's funeral. NBC News reports that former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have each been asked to deliver eulogies at the event at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, while President Trump hasn't even received an invite. McCain, battling brain cancer, has reportedly asked Vice President Mike Pence to attend in the president's place in a move that "highlights the depths of the Trump-McCain feud," dating to 2015, when Trump insulted McCain's years as a POW in Vietnam, per Vanity Fair. As CNN's Jake Tapper puts it, per HuffPost, "This is a real moment for the country where an American hero, somebody beloved in many, many ways is saying, 'I don't want this guy at my funeral.'"

Sen. Orrin Hatch thinks McCain should reconsider. "John should have his wishes fulfilled with regard to who attends his funeral," but it's "ridiculous" not to invite Trump, he tells CNN. "He's the president," and "would be a very interesting speaker and would do a good job for John," the Senate's president pro tempore says. In an editorial at the Boston Herald, Michael Graham even argues Trump "belongs at McCain's funeral." "Chances are there never would have been a President Trump" without McCain, who attacked the GOP base before Trump rallied it, Graham writes. But Rep. Gregory Meeks, a Democrat, disagrees. As "McCain is known for being honest, just the opposite of Donald Trump," inviting Trump to his funeral "would be a mischaracterization of who he is," Meeks says. (More John McCain stories.)