The Silver Lining: Will McCain’s Legacy be America’s Rejection of Partisanship Politics?

By Professor Maureen Johnson

American values. It’s hard to imagine a statesman who so perfectly embodied American ideals as Sen. John McCain. Rather than jump the line on early release as a prisoner of war because of his privileged status, he refused. Honoring the military code of conduct that prisoners of war should be released in the order of capture, McCain was imprisoned for over five years – including two years of solitary confinement - enduring daily tortures that left him hobbled in body, but never in spirit. As universally agreed, he was a good man, a good husband and father, and a truly phenomenal American.

But McCain recently had one unabashed critic.

Donald Trump publically rejected the idea that John McCain was an American hero. Per Trump, McCain only was given that tag “because he was captured.” Trump added: “I like people who weren’t captured.” Trump continued his rebuke even after McCain revealed his battle with cancer. While fellow Republicans begged for reversal, Trump doubled-down, scorning and belittling an honored patriot whom almost all of us feel we have been blessed to admire and call our own.

Trump’s heartless comments are emblematic of a much deeper philosophy that cannot be reconciled with our American spirit. Whenever there is a winner, there is a loser. To say one automatically is worthy and the other is not is insidious, divisive and an affront to humanity. This especially is so when the perceived loser – the person violated – is a fellow American.

Imagine if the words Trump uttered were instead: I like police officers who don’t get shot. I like women who don’t get sexually assaulted. I like children who don’t get beat up by a schoolyard bully.

If John McCain taught us anything, it’s that we do not turn on each other. Americans have each other’s backs. Winners do so with grace. If this is done, the losing party is not disenfranchised. Instead, we tackle problems as Americans, not as embattled partisans bent on wielding power to destroy the other. In an open letter to America read two days after his death by long-time aide Rick Davis, McCain said just that.

In the words of Sen. McCain:

“We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all of the corners of the globe. We weaken it when we hide behind walls rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals rather than trust them to be the great force for change they have always been. We are 325 million opinionated vociferous individuals. We argue, and sometimes even vilify each other in our raucous public debates. But we have always had so much more in common with each other than in disagreement. If only we remember that and give each other the benefit of the presumption that we all love our country, we will get through these challenging times. We will come through them stronger than before; we always do.”

McCain’s poignant words can bring us home.

America was great when we honored our fallen soldiers instead of kicking them to the wayside. America was great when we shared our good fortune, instead of whining like a spoiled child that we want all the candy for ourselves. America was great when our elders – including the very great John McCain – earned their spots as world leaders by championing democracy, instead of touting the purported charms of brutal dictators and autocrats.

And yes, America truly was great when a naval pilot in Vietnam named John McCain chose to forgo his get-out-of-jail-free card and instead stand in solidarity with his fellow soldiers. We know what reasoning Trump would have employed to weigh such a decision: winning.

Surely, that is what Trump thought he did when he got a waiver from serving in the military altogether due to his claim of being physically unfit because of a bone spur in his heel that somehow never since has caused him a problem. Imagine a 20-something Trump yucking it up at a Manhattan nightclub, boasting about how clever he was. If this was “winning,” who were the losers? Per Trump’s all-or-nothing winner-loser paradigm, the “losers” in his view must have been all those American soldiers who weren’t so clever and instead served their country when called, ultimately drawing their last breath on a battlefield in Laos.

This is the man we elected president? It is no wonder McCain’s final farewell to America has been perceived by many as a warning about the views of the current administration.

No doubt the impact of an American president’s ideals – or lack thereof – trickles down to the masses, most notably to impressionable children. Consider a 6-year-old trying to grapple with the idea of sharing: two scoops of ice cream for me, one for you. Or respecting a classmate: If you’re president, you can do whatever you want. Grab them by the p****. And then there’s truth: A lie isn’t a lie if you say it enough

Character matters. McCain possessed both the courage and grit to hold a mirror up to Trump. In doing so, he has held that same mirror up for the entire nation. Is Trump whom we want to become? Or is it true American heroes committed to service – like John McCain – whose aim is to unite rather than divide?

Just as presidential values can trickle down, the values of the American people can trickle up. Let’s honor McCain not as partisans, but as the Americans for whom he valiantly served in Vietnam, in that cage in Hanoi as a prisoner-of-war and in the grand halls of the United States Senate, where he called for the end to partisan politics. McCain rose like a phoenix from the most trying of times; so too can we.

Put simply, which of these two men do you want your son or daughter to emulate? Senator McCain, you have my vote.