John McCain Memorial Service: Meghan McCain slams President Trump without naming him in emotional eulogy
The 81-year-old Arizona Senator died last week on Saturday after battling an aggressive form of brain cancer he was diagnosed with nearly a year ago.
Late Senator John McCain's daughter, Meghan McCain, delivered an emotional tribute to her father at his funeral on Saturday morning. Meghan, in her speech, also seemed to relay a defiant rebuke of President Donald Trump, without mentioning his name, and called his words "cheap rhetoric."
The 81-year-old Arizona Senator died last week on Saturday after battling an aggressive form of brain cancer he was diagnosed with nearly a year ago. The announcement that he was ceasing medical treatment for his cancer was made by his family a day before his death.
Meghan led her speech with a quote from Ernest Hemingway as she talked about the American hero her father was and how she admired him for his courage, and his love for the country and his family. "John McCain was defined by love," she said.
"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," Megan said in her eulogy.
“Not the opportunistic appropriation of those who live lives of comfort and privilege while he suffered and served. He was a great fire who burned bright, his fire illuminated people but a few have resented that fire for the light it cast about them-for the truth it revealed about his character.”
Meghan, a host on ABC’s The View, also took an apparent dig at Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan, and said that McCain's America was "always great."
"My father was convinced of the need to defend American greatness with ferocity and faith,” she said. "Americans have a responsibility to defend the old world from its worse self. The America of John McCain is the America of Abraham Lincoln. Fulfilling the promise of the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal. The America of John McCain is generous and welcoming and bold. She is resourceful and confident and secure. she meets her responsibilities…The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because the America of John McCain was always great," the 33-year-old added as her statement was met with applause.
Meghan then continued to say what a great American her father was and shared some personal anecdotes during the ceremony, including about the instance when she fell off a horse and broke her collarbone.
She said that her father, who had suffered torture for years as a prisoner of Vietnam war, told her to be strong and said: "Nothing is going to break you.”
“For the rest of my life, whenever I’d fall down, I’d get back up, whenever I am hurt I drove on, whenever I am brought low, I rise,” she said, adding that she always carries her father's advise with her.
"My father was a great man, a great warrior, a great American and I admired him for all of these things, but I loved him because he was a great father," Meghan said.
In addition to Meghan's speech, former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush also delivered heartfelt eulogies to the war hero and shared their personal experiences with the war hero and his contribution to the nation. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted about NAFTA negotiations during the funeral service.
The later senator will be laid to rest at the US Naval Academy Cemetery following a private ceremony on Sunday.
