Ben Domenech Defends Trump Over Bombshell Report President Trashed Father-in-Law John McCain as ‘Loser’
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Ben Domenech made the curious decision to publicly defend President Donald Trump after The Atlantic ran a blockbuster report that Trump seethed over having to honor John McCain upon his death and complained about lowering the White House flag to half-staff in memorial.
Domenech, the founder of The Federalist and a frequent commentator on Fox News, is also the son-in-law of the late senator and veteran and husband to conservative firebrand and The View co-host Meghan McCain.
According to the Atlantic report, which is based on multiple sources and was confirmed by the Associated Press and the Washington Post, Trump repeatedly called McCain a loser. The Atlantic reported that he said the following after John McCain’s death:
When McCain died, in August 2018, Trump told his senior staff, according to three sources with direct knowledge of this event, “We’re not going to support that loser’s funeral,” and he became furious, according to witnesses, when he saw flags lowered to half-staff. “What the fuck are we doing that for? Guy was a fucking loser,” the president told aides.
The article also details how Trump canceled a 2018 trip to a WWI American cemetery in France for fear of his hair getting messy in the rain and demeaned the war dead interred there as “suckers” and “losers.”
Trump vociferously denied calling McCain a “loser” after the report was published on Friday. He has called McCain a loser on publicly and repeatedly, on tape and in tweets.
Domenech doubted the Atlantic report nonetheless, despite Trump’s bitter feud with his late father-in-law:
I’m confident I have better sources within this White House than @JeffreyGoldberg, and I expect that upon investigation his anonymously sourced story will live up to the quality we can expect from The Atlantic under his leadership.
— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) September 4, 2020
For her part, Meghan McCain expressed her frustration and sorrow of hearing her father’s name back in the news in such a controversial manner. McCain tweeted:
I just got through two years without my Dad a few days ago. The loss is still incredibly painful and raw. No one is more acutely aware of how vile and disgusting Trump has been to my family, it is still hard to understand – America knows who this man is…
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) September 4, 2020
This never stops being incredibly painful, triggering, and it rips off new layers of grief that wreak havoc on my life. I wouldn’t wish any of it on my worst enemy. I truly pray for peace for my family, our grief, and for this country.
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) September 4, 2020
