now, when it comes to john mccain, john mccain -- i used to ask john mccain, senator john mccain for interviews. i never got one. i was hoping to get one when he was pushing the issue of jack johnson. john mccain was a politician who had a very -- he was sometimes -- he was prickly, but i respected him as someone who fought for us, who bled for us, for our freedoms. that has nothing to do with barack obama. and let me say this to you. when that woman at the end of that campaign, that presidential campaign when he was running against barack obama and he told that woman, where that woman said he's an airborne and i don't like that, he chastised her kindly and she sat down. he corrected the record. you don't hear anyone that's doing that. >> i think she said he was a muslim, but here's the thing. we get offtrack with these shiny things. i don't remember barack obama attacking john mccain and saying i prefer heroes who weren't captured, and then going onto demean him. people challenge each other during election and the election process all the time, but to continue to do it -- >> that's

the late senator john mccain. ining me now is former governor john kasich of the great state of ohio. again, it's an honor to have you on, sir. thank you very much. the president is once again attacking the late john mccain and you're saying enough. >> don, i don't know how many things i've had to say about this over the last few days. but, don, you've kind of said it all. there's a basic decency in our country where particularly with, i mean a war hero but with anybody who's departed, that we don't spend our time attacking them. obviously they can't defend themselves. and to continue this day after day is, you know, it's just to me a pathetic thing. and don, i was hoping, you know, after the primaries that we'd see a change. and now i don't believe there is any change coming. and i will tell you that i think people of ohio don't approve of this and don't like this. one of the things that's very odd to me, don, and something i can't quite figure out is, yeah, i mean i know people have a little bit more money in the

john mccain was given the dossier. e it to the fbi. >> under false pretenses. >> doesn't matter. he gave it to the fbi. i don't understand -- >> false pretenses matter, john. >> does it justify, congressman, the president of the united states at a white house-funded event in ohio, in your home state talking about the funeral of a human being, let alone a war hero like john mccain who passed away in august? >> ing tethe people in the room incredibly surprised and i was personally saddened that the information the president was there to celebrate, a tank plant, an accomplishment with the tank plant which was slated to be closed and as a result of the trump spending will go up to a thousand people with tanks rolling off the line. that's saddening. but you cannot lose the fact -- >> did you tell him you were saddened? >> because of the recent -- >> you were saddened -- >> absolutely. >> did you tell the president that you were saddened -- >> i didn't have a chance to speak to the president after he spoke. certainly it's ver

liberals started to waste john mccain when he was cancer stricken. u think mccain did not know who they were? he did. democrats revealed themselves in the days before thumbs down when they misread procedural votes and believed mccain would repeal obama care. poor,ed nothing for the had a solid gold health plan. that from sale of the arizona republic. of the arizona republic. we set aside a line for veterans, 202-748-8003. judy calling from delaware, democrats line. caller: good morning. how are you? host: i am well, thanks. go ahead. i don't understand why people can't see the black and white of this. i don't know how that man has time to do his job because he is and everybody else's business and putting everybody else down whether it is the news, television, john mccain. i am a veteran and i respect john mccain for his views and values. i am just trying to figure out how this man in the office of president has time to do his job when he is too busy minding everyone else's business. host: specifically to the comments about a john mccain, what did you

that triggers him about john mccain, do you think?know. look, you're asking me to psycho analyze the president. i'm not going to do that. let george conway do that. i'll stick to the fact that the president is not behaving presidential, and you know, i know that his supporters and i'm one of them, talk about how you know he can't be blamed for all of this hostility and notes to cindy mccain and things like that, and that's right because that kind of activity happens all of the time, but you're going to be blamed if you act the way the president acts. i don't think there is a tie candidly, but it's a legitimate criticism if the president continues these types of untoward, crude attacks that he's going to get blamed for creating a culture that that is encouraging that. >> is there a tie? because any time someone goes on television and says i'll be interested to see what kind of tweet responses you get, senator, just for saying -- >> you just said it wasn't presidential. that's not coming down too hard, but any time someone goes on tv an

john mccain received a fake and phony dossier. john mccain got it, he got it. what did he do? he didn't call me. he turned it over to the fbi hoping to put me in jeopardy. when he had the chance to do it, he voted against repeal and replace. he voted against at 2:00 a.m. remember thumbs down. we said what the hell happened? he said two hours before he was voting to repeal and replace. he went thumbs down. badly hurting the republican party, badly hurting our nation. >> now, senator john mccain's daughter megan mccain over the weekend showed outrage over what the president said about her father. today on "the view" seems to sense the irony in john mccain continuing to hit the president's goat. listen here. >> i think if i had told my dad seven months after you're dead you'll be dominating the news, he would think it's hilarious that our president was so jealous of him that he was dominating the news cycle in death as well. >> johnny isakson a close friend of john mccain didn't have any irony about it at all. listen to what he said earlier this afternoon. >> it's deplorable what

i don't care if you like john mccain or couldn't stand john mccain. he is attacking a dead national hero and that is plain disgusting. >> well, if i can, look, john mccain -- >> don't justify it -- >> i'm not justifying it. i regret and would not necessarily be my style that somehow this gets to be about some of the other events that as you correctly say you could have disagreements about. i think a lot of republicans, not just president trump were disappointed in the obamacare vote and the dossier thing is a very sensitive issue with president trump and we'll see how this evolves. i do regret and i do agree with you and i'm not going to justify this here because i loved him very much, senator mccain, that we should talk about the events but not the individual. and i do agree about his service. i do agree with senator lindsey graham's tweet that nothing can be done to diminish or stain his service to this country. >> although it was interesting. >> neither you or lindsey have gone the extra step of condemning donald trump and telling him that this is

president trump called conway a stone cold loser and he went after john mccain repeatedly. but this morning, georgia republican senator johnny isakson told the bulwark he had had enough and said the president show disrespect to senator mccain, it's unthinkable. senator isakson said he plans to deliver "a whipping to the president speaking out publicly and at length later today." i want to bring in nbc's kristen welker at the white house. you asked the president specifically about these attacks on the late senator. tell me what he said. >> reporter: i did. i asked president trump why he continues to attack him when he's passed away now self months ago. take a look at that exchange. we'll do some analysis on the other side. >> mr. president, why are you attacking senator john mccain seven months after his death. >> very unhappy that he didn't repeal and replace obamacare as you know. he campaigned on repealing and replacing obamacare for years. and then he got to a vote and he said thumbs down. and our country would have saved a trillion dollars. we would have had great health

but this isn't really about john mccain.sident trump wants to distract from the real questions about the russia investigation and shut down internal republican criticism. a few weeks ago he said that republicans were slightly dangerous. yes, they are to his campaign because if enough republicans say they've had enough of this nonsense, they're fatigued, they're fed up and stay home, he will lose in 2020. we saw in 2016 there weren't a lot of democrats who were fully enthusiastic about hillary clinton's candidacy so they stayed home, she lost. there may be republicans who stay home because they're fed up with donald trump's never ending stream of tweets. and so what he is trying to do by attacking john mccain is go after anyone who criticizes him. and isn't it just so weak for him to attack someone who has passed away and can't defend himself and will force his grieving daughter to do it for him. >> mark, your response? >> well, i disagree. the president has record-high approval with republicans. they're not going to stay hom

john mccain gave that famous thumbs down. university, they're releasing information just yesterday in my inbox with a long list of john mccain's accomplishments because they feel like they have to defend someone who obviously can't defend themselves. as a reminder, john mccain died in august 2018. so, the president is attacking someone who has been dead for more than seven months. add to that the fact that the president is bitter. he was talking about the idea that john mccain had this beautiful funeral and that he had to approve it. at that time, people were saying president trump and all of the presidents at that funeral, they have to be sitting back thinking is that what my funeral is going to look like. i think president trump might come to the realization that he's not going to be lauded the way john mccain was. >> jake, the reaction from colleagues also a bit striking. these are comments from two senators. >> i think the president's comments about senator mccain hurt him more than they hurt the legacy of senator mccain.

we sent him on the way, but i wasn't a fan of john mccain. so now what we could say is, now we're all set. i don't think i have to answer that question, but the press keeps, what do you think of mccain? what do you think? not my kind of guy. but some people like him, and i think that's great. >> no one thanked him for giving john mccain the kind of funeral that john mccain wanted. now, keeping 'em honest, the president neglects to mention that at the time, he had to be pressured into flying white house flags at half-staff, even as the rest of official washington did, because, well, that's what you do. no one thanked him, though, just as no one thanked him or the white house for offering an official statement when the senator died and no one said thanks when he tweeted his condolences to the family, failed to praise or mention john mccain's service to the country. but no one thanked the president. not that he cares, because he doesn't, even though he just brought that up in a very telling way out of thin air months after the funeral. it almost

john mccain was a creature of convictions that never wavered. nald trump, is a creature of political convenience. i think one of the things that people are forgetting to remember, is in mccain's final years, he gave a couple speeches where he was very harsh, about donald trump, steve bannon and their nationalism. it was demeaned to him. and he carries grudges. >> you didn't have to agree with john mccain to know he was a classy man. and he deserved everything that comes along with being a war hero, for what happened during vietnam. i think that, you know, it's -- >> you got to remember that he considered hiv his vietnam. this is donald trump. and he was a pretend soldier at a military academy when john mccain was a real fighter pilot. this is just a crazy comparison. >> bone spurs. >> and i think trump understands it. >> go back to the funeral. remember how john mccain's funeral and how donald trump was approaching it, the idea of not having the handshakes. the idea that all of the former presidents and first ladies were there to show their commi

here's isaacson days after john mccain died. >> anyone who in in way tarnishes the reputation of john mccain deserves a whipping but most of the ones who would do the wrong thing about john mccain didn't have the guts to do the right thing when it was their turn. >> let me read you rwhat isakso said. quote, i just want to lay it on the line that the country deserves better, the mccain family deserves better. i don't the care if he's president of the united states. owns all the real estate in new york, or is building the greatest immigration system in the world. nothing is more important than the ented gri of country and those who fought and risk their lives for all of us. >> he is close with majority leader mitch mcconnell. this is not someone who speaks out often when there's news of the day and something to react to. i want to read a little more from isakson's interview. quote, when the president is saying that he doesn't respect john mccain and he's never going to respect john mccain, and all these kids are out there listening to the president of the united states talk that way abo

fresh attack on john mccain.ham terrified late senator during a speech in ohio and now top republicans are weighing in. >>> the president comments on the special counsel probe and he doesn't understand why mull certificate writing a report but the public can see it anyway. >>> new zealand prime minister announces plan to ban all military style semiautomatic assault rifles less than a week after people were killed in an attack on two mosques. >>> good morning, everybody. it is thursday, march 21st. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayhy

you're someone who spent many years in the senate with john mccain.t do you think about these attacks? >> to me it's horrible to hear the president of the united states talk about a true american patriotic hero the way he has about john mccain. john mccain and i didn't agree on a lot of issues philosophically, but we were partners in promoting american values and standing up for human rights and getting the global c mcnitsky and the next mcnitsky passed. he has shown his respect with each individual during the debate with president obama or candidate obama. nobody will forget how he defended the values of this country, by the way. he corrected the question that was asked of him. john mccain is a hero and what president trump did is inexcusable. >> you say what president trump did is inexcusable. i wonder if maybe -- you also have spent many years with lindsey graham in the senate, so i was hoping maybe you could give us some understanding or perspective of the fact that this is his best friend, john mccain, and he tweeted out a defense of john mccain

i've really probably never will. >> reporter: blaming mccain for his handling of the dossier. >> john mccain received a fake and phony dossier. what did he do? didn't call me. he turned it over to the fbi hoping to put me in jeopardy. >> reporter: as the crowd listened silently, trump evoked mccain's funeral last summer in washington. >> i gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted. which as president i had to approve. i didn't get thank you. that's okay. >> reporter: trump feuding with the husband of his top aide kellyanne conway after her husband george questioned trump's mental stability. >> he is a whack job. there's no question about it. i don't know him. i think he is doing a tremendous disservice to a wonderful wife. kellyanne is a wonderful woman. i call him mr. kellyanne. the fact is that he is doing a tremendous disservice to a wife and family. she's a wonderful woman. >> reporter: on the white house lawn and at the tank factory in ohio, trump paused for some show and tell. >> i brought this out for you because this is a map of everything in the red, this was on election night in

president went after senator john mccain. john mccain and lindsey graham were best friends.dsey graham was devoted to john mccain. and how did lindsey graham respond to his friend, his fallen dear friend being attacked by the president months after his death? he put out a milquetoast tweets. i should give him credit for two. he said as the senator john mccain showed did he votion to his country, he stepped forward to serve his country and served honorably and wads one of the most consequential service to the body. nothing about his service willing change order diminished. do you think had lindsey graham been attacked by the president like that that john mccain would have put out a tweet as mild as that? >> i don't. think mccain's tweet would have been much more forceful than that. mccain, you know, well throughout the trump -- president trump's time in office was not afraid to criticize the president. and graham himself during the campaign was a fierce critic of trump. but has since morphed into an ally of the president and really i think that what we can take from that is t

i'm not a fan of john mccain.aria: is there anything you see that you would like to work with democrats on? >> a lot. we could work at a lot. the easiest thing, i want to get tax cuts which we got. the easiest thing is infrastructure, they want it, i want it, i spoke to nancy pelosi about it the other day, we agree on it, we even like the type, i think, i think we like the type of infrastructure we are talking about, maybe in a certain way more democrats from my standpoint than republican standpoint. maria: why now? >> i've been thinking about doing it for a long time. it's been a hard decision for every president, no president has done it. i did that and i totally understand why everybody, clinton, bush, obama, everybody campaigned the embassy in jerusalem. they all campaigned on it and never did it and i understand why because when i got elected i also campaigned on it, i was inundated with calls from all over the world, leaders, please don't do it, don't do it. i did it and it's been done and it's fine. it's th

john mccain's death. listen. >> i've never liked him much had the hasn't been for me. mccain didn't get the job done, it went thumbs down. badly hurting the republican party, badly hurting our nation. i gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted. which as president i had to approve. i don't care about this, i didn't get thank you, that's okay. we sent him on the way. but i wasn't a fan of john mccain. >> just a fact check here, the president did have to approve the military jet and the military transport, but the funeral lying in state, that wasn't the president, an april poe lis, his laying to rest there, the president didn't approve that either. you interviewed a senior senator from georgia who is one of the few, really, the few republicans with any national stature to stand up and say enough, mr. president, this is deplorable, he said on the radio. why is there a johnny isakson island when it comes to this? >> john, i mean, it's stunning that even after senator isakson spoke with me on tuesday night a

's in 2015 president trump said john mccain was not a war hero. the grudge, even though senator mccain passed away seven months ago lives on. >> thank you. >>> and joining us now, senior political analyst and a presidential historian of the nixon public library. the president has an incredible platform in twitter to reach millions of americans in the blink of an eye and could be condemning hatred, sending messages of unity, but instead is attacking a late war hero. tim, what's the rationale here? >> i'm not in the president's mind, but i feel that the president has made his decision to have a big tent philosophy and wants his republican party to include folks who are moved by white nationalism. up know, mr. mulvaney said that critics blame every bad thing in the world on president trump. that's not true, but in this case, the shooter in new zealand held up president trump, our president, as one of his heroes. that alone should have been a reason for our president to differentiate himself and to say that this man is a disgusting human being and he r

i didn't mention john mccain until you asked me a question about john mccain. i could say i have no comment. that's not me. you shouldn't have brought it up. i thought you weren't supposed to bring it up. fake news. maria: it's not fake news. >> i have a serious issue. he havenedded something to the -- handed something to the fbi on me. he knew it was a fake. repeal and replace of obamacare, he campaigned for years, that's an issue. but i didn't bring it up, maria, you did. maria: part two of my interview with the president coming up. my thanks to president trump for joining us and for the record there, were no conditions or stipulations agreed to ahead of

senator john mccain, the late senator john mccain who was a p.o.w. in vietnam as well as special counsel robert mueller who was a marine captain in vietnam and won a bronze star there. the president has set this up as donald trump against two men who distinguish them sexes decades ago as defenders of the united states. it's not clear what he's getting from this and his allies are even asking him to stop. [ chanting usa ]. >> well, you better love me, i kept this place open. >> reporter: standing before workers alt a military tank factory, president trump launching into a tirade about senator john mccain, a vietnam war hero who died of brain cancer nearly seven months ago. >> i have to be honest, i've never liked him much. >> reporter: the president taking credit for mccain's funeral and complaining that he was never thanked. >> i gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted. i didn't get thank you, that's okay. we sent him on the way. >> reporter: the president was not invited to the senator's funeral and megan mccain has said she was surprised that t

in front of a back drop of tanks in a county that voted for john mccain over barack obama, he silenced the crowd when he made his case that mb caccain was responsible for the mueller investigation. >> john mb cane received a fake and phoney dossier. did you hear about the dossier? he didn't call me. he turned it over to the fbi hoping to put me in jeopardy. he voted against repeal and replace. voted against at 2:00 in the morning remember thumbs down. endorsed him at his request and i gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted, which as president i had to approve. i don't care about this. i didn't get thank you. that's okay. we sent him on the way but i wasn't a fan of john mccain. >> and he kept up his criticism of the husband of kellyanne conway, one of the president's senior and longest serving advisors. conway has been using posts online to raise questions about the president's mental health and fitness for office. trump was asked about that as he left for ohio. >> i don't know him. he's a wack job, there's no question about it. i think he's doing a tremendous disservice to a wond

mccain but he isn't hurting john mccain, john mccain is dead, he's hurting himself. deliver about the manufacturing boom in this country that he has unleashed. it's a great story, you said at the outset of this segment we were going to talk about that but he change the subject. he did it by showing a total lack of decency. what he's doing is stepping on his own story and there are millions of people in this country who are benefiting from the trump economy who have jobs and opportunity and better lives because of this. they like trump's policies but they don't like him because of things like this. the reason he's in the low 40s instead of above 50 is because persuadable voters look at this and say i don't want to support a guy who goes after a dead war hero. >> bret: minus some of these tweets, minus some of the counter punching, what his approval be above 50? >> i think you make a really great point, it's the rhetoric that turns off the people who are on the edge, they like what he does policy wise but they hate him personally and that makes him look at other candid

xfinity, the future of awesome. >>> president trump attacking the late senator john mccain who died in august. trump griping on twitter about mccain's no vote for the obamacare repeal bill and claiming that mccain was last in his class at the navy academy, which actually is not true. trump also falsely suggested that mccain was responsible for spreading the russia dossier to the media, but according to court documents, a mccain associate and former state department diplomat received copies of the dossier in 2016 and shared it with a reporter at buzzfeed. so why does the president keep going after john mccain? here with me now to discuss is grant woods. he's a former arizona attorney general who was a very good friend of the late senator john mccain's. thank you so much for joining us, mr. woods. i really appreciate it. for coming on and talking about it. >> thank you for having me on, don. yeah, absolutely. >> so the president attacked john mccain on twitter again. why is he still so obsessed with attacking a war hero who passed away seven months ago? >> well, that's a good question, y

he's insulted john mccain.s gone after hillary clinton, joe biden, general motors, the uaw, even fox news shepard smith. what am i missing here? i know i keep asking you this question, but there is no irony here? >> oh, i don't want to overuse the word "iron re"but here's the most powerful man in the world to take time out to go after twitter. there's some legitimate criticisms about facebook and the live streaming of the massacre in new zealand, a variety of things. these are not legitimate criticism. but donald trump always needs to have a boogieman and he always needs to play the victim card. and i think you're seeing that again. playing to people's paranoia. look, donald trump is a creature. he and his movement are creatures of social media. s he swims in this sea of paranoia and conspiracy theories that never would have gotten traction if not for the social media platforms. he uses twitter against all of his enemies. his desire to find some target, and it plays well with the conservative base and you see t

two republican senators pushed back directly for his attacks on john mccain. ny isackson thi afternoon. >> it's deplorable what he said. with will be deplorable seven months from now if he say it's again. >> he was willing to hit the president over his mccain comments, that's as far as he will willing to go. >> there are those that think whether or not president trump has issues with stability. do you think that is an unfair question to raise? >> i think it is and i'm not going to get into that discussion here because i don't think it is a discussion. i respect the presidency of the united states regardless of who the president is, that's how i wish everyone would be. >> joining me, former florida congressm congressman, carlos. and i'm going to start with you. you certainly, i think the president liked to over emphasize how to pronounce your name, that was his shot at you. how hard is it for you to criticize the president and talk to republicans back home in florida? how much grief do you get? >> certainly look the biggest fear that any house republican has is

the president also referred to him as last in his class annapolis, john mccain. senator mccain was actually fifth from last in his class. but the difference from him and the president -- i should say, one of the many differences between him and the president, john mccain never asked his lawyer to threaten his college to keep his grades secret. donald trump did that, according to michael cohen. unlike the president, mccain actually had a sense of humor and was confident enough to poke fun at himself for his annapolis disciplinary record and even crashing planes. that's the kind of confidence you get when you have been through hell and survived with honor. just as a reminder, mccain served as a naval aviator for 22 years, was shot down over vietnam in 1967, spent nearly six years being tortured as a prisoner of war. he refused early release, not leaving without his brothers in arms and was later awarded the bronze star and purple heart. president trump did not serve in the military. he was sent to boarding school where they did dress up in military uniforms, but his

fresh attack on john mccain. he ham terrified late senator during a speech in ohio and now top republicans are weighing in. >>> the president comments on the special counsel probe and he doesn't understand why mull certificate writing a report but the public can see it anyway. >>> new zealand prime minister announces plan to ban all military style semiautomatic assault rifles less than a week after people were killed in an attack on two mosques. >>> good morning, everybody. it is thursday, march 21st. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin. despite growing condemnation from across the political spectrum, president trump is not relenting in his attacks against john mccain slamming the late senator once again seven months after his death. trump's latest broad sides came yesterday during an appearance at an army tank plant in. ohio in front of a military audience. the president criticized mccain again in front of a military audience. >> that one has more of a sting as well. >> considering the late senator'

cathedral telling nbc the washington national cathedral was honored to host the funeral service for john mccainno funeral at the cathedral requires the approval of the president or any other government oofficial. two days after senator mccain's death, family spokesman, rick davis, said this. >> the combined efforts of the trumped a m trump administration, secretary mattis and the military district washington are rel -- and we thank them for coming together quickly and playing together all the federal resources. >> i guess this was only on television, which the president watches relentlessly. i know you're a a baseball guy and i was thinking of yogi bearau's line if you don't go to other people's funerals, they won't go to yours. >> he's angry about fill in the blank. what was the first controversy of this president? the size at the inauguration. photographic evidence disproved his claims and it didn't matter. he stands in front of the wall of honor of people who have died in service of the cia and bragged. >> let's take a look. >> he's protective of me and that's what people should take from th

john mccain couldn't even raise his arms. i knew john since 1982. we went into congress together. him. we admired him and he was a dear friend of mine and he always showed courage. that was the thing about mccain. he is the standard for the way we need to think about the fact that do the right thing and over time it'll work. >> former chief-of-staff for the rnc says that president trump is doing exactly what his supporters want and what they expect -- >> i don't agree with that -- >> can you -- okay. we're going to listen to what he says and then we're going to talk. let's roll this. >> the question of what's presidential i think is actually more of what i'm kind of getting at here because the image that many of us may have of what's presidential, he ran against, his supporters don't like that. being presidential and being, you know, sort of hope and change type of pc president had us the slowest recovery in modern history. they don't want a politician who's pc, they want someone who tells it like it is and owe depends people. his supports like it that we'll be offended. we're the

saying spreading the fake and totally discredited dossier is unfortunately a very dark stain against john mccainluded information linking trump to the russian government. trump added mccain had far worse stains than this, including thumbs down on repeal and replace after years of campaigning to repeal and replace. the late senator's daughter megan mccain tweeted in response no one will ever love you the way they loved my father. i wish i had been given more saturdays with him. maybe spend yours with your family instead of on twitter obsessing over mine. but the president didn't stop there. yesterday he tweeted so it was indeed just proven in. court papers last in his class annapolis john mccain had sent the fake dossier to fbi and media hoping to have it printed before election. anyhow, going back to george conway's tweet, his condition is getting worse. it's something we've talked about in the past two years, and now we're getting to a point, joe, where reason will tell you something is wrong. >> yeah. >> it may have been too early to be emotionally jumping to those conclusions, i regret that.

the president going after john mccain, seven months after he died, by name in a series of tweets. mr. trump attacks senator mccain for his role in handling the steele dossier. mccain's vote against repeal of the affordable care act. mr. trump even mocking incorrectly, by the way, mccain's academic record. that's all in the last 24 hours. 204 days after john mccain died of brain cancer. i want to go to msnbc's mike viqueira at the white house. we have had this conversation a couple times what might be fueling today's outpouring from the president and that specifically as i just talked about, mccain? >> right, richard. i guess i'm not qualified to put the president on the proverbial couch. so it's anybody's guess at this point. there are plenty out there. the bottom line is, we have to say even by presidential standards, this has been a remarkable day on the twitter machine for the president. he's taken off after everybody from "saturday night live" to the united auto workers, watches a lot of fox news channel evidently, praising his favorite anchors and defending others, criticizing

we thought you can't say that about john mccain.he question whether or not he's a hero. donald trump did it, got away with it and his support went up. to your point, we saw mitt romney come out very critical but where areal other republicans i can't always agree with john mccain but to question his heroism and commitment to the country, to suggest that john mccain is a traitor to america is outrageous. why is that hard to say? >> incredible. >> i still don't know why it's difficult to say what mitt romney said yesterday. >> and what does john mccain's family think? what would john mccain think of the fact that mitt romney can speak out against the president's attack but lindsey graham, who affixed himself to john mccain for a decade can't do the same, mike? >> what does that say about lindsey graham? what does that say about his character? >> nothing good. >> and what does it say as willie just pointed out add you've mentioned a million times joe, what does it say about various members of the republican party in the senate, in the h

they are furious with the way the president has been behaving over the last few days, going after john mccain. this is a factual error according to people who work for the late senator. >> has the white house had anything to say about what cindy mccain posted today? >> reporter: no, they haven't. i think it is worth reminding folks, anderson, this is the sort of thing that happens all the time. when the president lashes out at any number of targets. you and i know this, probably as well as a lot of people do. you do take on a barrage of social media attacks from the president's supporters, there is a whole legion of trolls and bots and so on to back up what the president sed says, sometimes those messages get very, very sinister and sometimes violent. i think this is a taste of what the mccain family i guess has gone through. but as for mccain's status as a war hero, you mentioned what mitt romney said just a few moments ago, anderson, we should point out, president trump has been to vietnam twice now. i traveled with president trump in his first two years in office to hanoi twice. on bhoet o

donald trump made no secret of his hatred for john mccain. who can forget this during the campaign. >> he's not a war hero. >> he's a war hero! >> he's a war hero because he was captured! i like people that weren't captured. >> yeah, i should say it's almost two years ago, not two and a half years ago. but listen, all of that is bad enough. but we also know, when this president speaks or when the president tweets, people listen. the senator's widow, cindy mccain, posting an attack from someone on facebook messenger, a brutal hate-filled attack on her husband. mrs. mccain tweeting sarcastically, i want to make sure all of you could see how kind and loving a stranger can be. so we're blurring the worst expletive from that message. but what's left is pretty disgusting. take a look at your screen. and i warn you, it's just as difficult to listen to as for me to read it. i wish we didn't have to talk about this kind of thing, but mrs. mccain is right. this kind of hatred needs to be called out openly. the message, and this is a quote. "your husban

i'm not out to please the president about john mccain. he's my friend, john mccain.erican hero and i want to help the president and i like him. john mccain acted responsibly, did the fbi act responsibly -- did the department of justice act responsibly? did they lie to the fisa court in did they set up a counterintelligence investigation against the trump campaign that was a back doorway to infiltrate the campaign. i don't know the answers to this, but i do know somebody's going to look at it, me included and i hope some prosecutor looks as to whether or not the doj and the fbi was corrupt. >> can i ask you -- about john mccain, though. the president has really relentlessly attacked him for months. you say that you had a conversation with him about it. i want to play you something that democratic congressman hakeem jefferies said about this, and it was just yesterday. listen to this. >> lindsay graham spent years as the sidekick to john mccain and then donald trump gets elected and donald trump continues to bash john mccain in reprehensible ways and lindsay graham on

i was never a fan of john mccain and i never will be. >> neil: seven months after john mccain is lead to rest, donald trump can't give it arrest. forget about whether a president should be doing this. is this one risking losing a second term if he keeps doing this? welcome. i'm neil cavuto, this is "your world." for a president who has a lot of things going his way, is he the one who is ultimately getting in the way of himself and his party? a message on paper that seven and ten americans saying we like what we see even though they might not flip over the things that donald trump will say. whether he's talking about a deceased senator, he clearly doesn't like, or a late-night comedy show that he clearly doesn't love or even a fox news line-up we're told that he clearly doesn't entirely embrace. so put another way, is the messenger getting in the way of his own message? the president going after john mccain again. he's speaking his mind but this time he might have jumped the shark. >> there were, neil, there were a lot of eyebrows raised when the president went on the tweet storm. 29 o

i like him, i don't like when he says things about my friend john mccain. >> here is lindsey graham in 2015, the first -- after the first time that the president attacked john mccain. >> how could anybody wanting to be commander in chief suggest that john mccain and people like him are anything less than heros. he is a train wreck, a car wreck, and he showed why he will not make it through this process. >> but that is the two lindsey grahams. >> and it is pathetic. i understand that he is running for reelection next year, but

john mccain can't defend himself. he can't push back. we did see his good friend, senator lindsey graham, push back. he's someone who's obviously cozied up to the president in the last year. he tweeted praise for mccain's service overseas and in the senate, which we read earlier. but he did not make a direct mention of trump. graham was best friends with mccain, julia. yet he can't directly call out the president? >> well, we see republicans have basically made a choice when it comes to trump's twitter attacks. they choose to virtually ignore all of them. what happens as a result of that is it often looks like they're accepting them. they say they don't want to be distracted. they would rather talk about other issues. but they are the president's party. when they don't push back, then it does look like they're accepting them. lindsey graham is somebody who was clearly trying to strike some sort of balance today by talking about his best friend john mccain, but again, it does look like he's more scared of what the president would say? res

and you're right, the president was accusing john mccain of that dossier, of misdeeds before he was elected to the white house. putting all that aside, the president does bear a grudge against mccain for giving that now famous thumbs-down vote on repealing and replacing obamacare. the president has talked about this at a number of occasions, at rallies and so on. it is startling that he holds a rally and hear him talk about john mccain when it comes to these teex the late senator. now matter how unseemly it comes across. my guess is when you saw that a few moments ago, when he was asked about this, he didn't hesitate. he was ready to jump right in and go after john mccain again even though he was laid to rest back in august. >> the president -- we're going to hear more from him. he's going to face some tough questions and certainly most of them will be about this twitter storm that he had over the weekend p. >> what are you kpchg him to have to answer for. twoef ne-- two questions for th brazilian press, two questions for the u.s. press. i think a lot of it will be about the situation in ve

i was never a fan of john mccain and i never will be. >> john mccain died 206 days ago.tionally well lived in service to his country, and yet all these months after john mccain's final farewell, donald trump has decided to strike. at a person who's no longer capable of striking back. sadly, that was just the latest attack on mccain in recent days. today the topic was health care. over the weekend it was this, trump tweeting, "so it was, indeed, just proven in court papers last in his class annapolis john mccain that sent the fake dossier to the fbi and media hoping to have it printed before the election. he and the dems working together failed as usual. even the fake news refused this garbage." and after lindsey graham came up well short of a full-throated condemnation of trump's depra depravity, the duty of defending mccain's honor fell to his daughter who didn't pull any punches. >> he spends his weekend obsessing over great men, he knows it, i know it, all of you know it, he'll never be a great man. >> yeah. >> and so, he is -- my father was his kryptonite in life. he

listen, judging from -- i watched meghan today and people called john mccain -- lindsey graham, john est friend. i'm not so sure about that, you know, judging from her reaction. maybe i'm reading something into it. he seemingly tweeted a response saying nothing about john mccain's service will ever be changed or diminished. didn't call the president out by name. it seemed like a tepid response to me, very disappointing response. are you disappointed by that? >> you know, don, i don't know. i think senator graham has a lot of positive qualities and certainly he and john had a lot of great times together and did a lot of good things together. i've been disappointed by a lot of things senator graham's done, cozying up to president trump so much and trying to be his best friend all of a sudden. it seems to me he's showing that, unfortunately, he's not that different than most pop tig politicians in that the top five most important things in their live are to be re-elected and to be re-elected and to be re-elected. that's what it's all about. one thing i learned a long time, i lirned it in

no question about it. >> but he's retweeting it to the family members of john mccain. i think he retweeted something to cindy -- to meghan mccain the other day. the idea that he is going through his own feed, i assume it's him, and finding, you know, tweets that agree with him and -- isn't that just for the president to spend his time doing that weird? >> there are better battles to choose. no question. and i think he should choose better battles going forward on his agenda and some of the folks coming at him from congress. certainly that's fair game as it relates to members of congress that are coming after him in a partisan way to punch back. and his base expects him to punch back. but in this instance i think he could have picked a different fight certainly. >> you know, to pretend that anything on these twitter wars is about the good economy or, you know, trade issues with china, this is about racism and it's about bigotry and it's about discrimination, and people like that about trump. and that's what i think we have to -- we have to think about in a really hard wa