Veteran organizations to hand out USS McCain shirts during Trump's Fourth of July celebration
Two veteran-led organizations are planning to honor late Arizona Senator John McCain by handing out T-shirts during President Donald Trump’s Fourth of July speech in Washington.
Rags of Honor and VoteVets are both participating in the distribution of the “Big Bad John” shirts, which feature the destroyer that was named for the late senator’s grandfather and father — before the younger McCain was added last July as a namesake by Navy Secretary Richard Spencer. Some members of the organization are also planning on passing out shirts at the House and Senate buildings, The Hill reported.
“At this year’s national Fourth of July celebration we’ll be distributing T-shirts that feature the USS John S. McCain," the VoteVets website says. "We may have had political battles against Senator McCain, but what has bound us together since 1776 — the belief in something larger than yourself — is always worth honoring on the Fourth.”
McCain has drawn the scorn of the president — in life and in death — following a long-running feud that dates back to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, one highlighted by the president’s downplaying McCain as a Vietnam War hero. “He’s a war hero because he was captured,” Trump said during the July 2015 interview. “I like people that weren’t captured.”
Federal lawmakers, local officials and others have voiced concerns that Trump could alter the tone of what traditionally is a nonpartisan celebration of America’s founding by delivering an overtly political speech after he added himself to an event that typically has not included the president.
https://www.militarytimes.com/off-duty/military-culture/2019/06/23/veteran-organizations-to-hand-out-uss-mccain-shirts-during-trumps-fourth-of-july-celebration/
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