How Meghan McCain Threw Shade At Donald Trump In Her Father's Eulogy

Though both members of the Republican Party, the late senator John McCain and former president Donald Trump never did see eye to eye, and neither of them were shy about saying so. Trump famously mocked McCain's military service, while McCain accused Trump of bringing out and taking advantage of what he called "a very extreme element within our Republican Party" (via E News).

When Senator McCain passed away in 2018 at the age of 81 after a fight against brain cancer, his daughter Meghan McCain was tasked with giving the eulogy at her father's funeral. McCain had been widely regarded as a Vietnam War hero for his bravery and valor as a prisoner of war, and so Meghan addressed her father's military service in her speech, calling him a "great man." 

She also, however, made it clear that the America her father stood for did not align with the America that Meghan felt Trump, the then-president, was standing for. 

In her eulogy, Meghan McCain said of the somber occasion, "We gather here to mourn the passing of American greatness, the real thing, not cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the sacrifice he gave so willingly, nor the opportunistic appropriation of those who live lives of comfort and privilege while he suffered and served" (via E News).  

Trump, who himself received five separate deferments that protected him from ever serving in the military, did not attend John McCain's funeral, although former presidents Barak Obama and George W. Bush were in attendance.

"The America of John McCain is generous and welcoming and bold," Meghan continued. "She is resourceful and confident and secure. She meets her responsibilities, She speaks quietly because she is strong. America does not boast because she has no need to. The America of John McCain has no need to be great again because America was always great," Meghan said, making a clear reference to Trump's 2016 campaign slogan of "Make America Great Again." 

When she had finished making her point about Trump and how he differed from John McCain, Meghan McCain went on to remember fondly the way that her father always pushed her to get back up when she felt defeated. For instance, she recalled how she had once broken her collar bone after being thrown from a horse as a child, and how her father had told her to "get back on the horse" after she had recovered (via E News).  

Once she had climbed up onto a horse again, her father had looked at her with pride and said, "nothing is going to break you."  

"For the rest of my life," Meghan said, "whenever I'd fall down, I'd get back up. Whenever I am hurt, I drive on. Whenever I am brought low, I rise. That is not because I am uniquely virtuous or strong or resilient. It is simply because my father, John McCain, was."