John McCain: ‘I Hope’ Trump Succumbs to D.C. Establishment #Trump2020

Kathryn Blackhurst,

Hawkish senator cheers neocon shift, says president ‘is growing and he is listening’

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd that he “hoped” President Donald Trump was being drawn into the so-called “Washington establishment” during an interview Sunday.

Ever since Trump ordered an airstrike in Syria in retaliation for the chemical attack that killed more than 80 Syrian civilians earlier in April, he has received increasing praise from the neoconservative wing of the Republican Party.

“We’ve got to have strategy. And I’ll give them some more time, but so far that strategy is not apparent.”

When Todd pointed to those who say “the Washington establishment sucked [Trump] in” and compromised his conservative populism and “America first” agenda, McCain unequivocally expressed his glee at the prospect.

“I hope so!” McCain said before laughing.

Todd, appearing a bit taken aback, laughed before replying, “Oh, ok!”

McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), frequent critics of the president, both cheered the action against the Syrian regime and have called for expanded U.S. intervention in the messy Syrian conflict. In a joint statement released April 6, both senators said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “must pay a punitive cost for this horrific attack.”

“In addition to other measures, the United States should lead an international coalition to ground Assad’s air force,” the pair of hawkish GOP senators said. “Ultimately, the grounding of Assad’s air force can and should be part of a new comprehensive strategy to end the conflict in Syria … If the President is willing to take the necessary action, he deserves broad bipartisan support, and we will help build it.”

Graham went even further during an appearance April 10 on “Meet the Press,” telling Todd that the U.S. must send “five or six thousand” more troops to Syria.

“I want more American troops, five or six thousand, like we have in Iraq, to help destroy ISIL,” Graham had said. “That means that we’ll accelerate the demise of ISIL.”

Neither McCain nor Graham voted for Trump, and both senators have been notoriously vocal critics of Trump’s all throughout his first few months in office.

“I think that [Trump] is growing and he is listening to some very wise intelligence people,” McCain said. “But I do believe that we do not have — and I support what he did and I support the bunker buster bomb — but we’ve got to develop a strategy. There is still not an overall strategy that he can come to Congress and his advisers and say, ‘Ok, this is how we’re going to handle Syria. Here’s how we’re going to handle post-Mosul Iraq.’”

“We’ve got to have strategy. And I’ll give them some more time, but so far that strategy is not apparent,” McCain said. “Because I don’t think he’s absolutely sure what he needs to do.”

Noting that the war crimes in Syria “are horrendous,” McCain insisted that “to just say were only after ISIS, in my view, rather than regime change, is something that we have to rethink.”

The Arizona senator expressed his confidence that the president had assembled “a strong team” on national security and his belief that Trump is “very appropriately listening to them.”

Todd noted “not everybody thinks the Washington consensus on foreign policy has worked in the Middle East over the last 25 years,” and that this fact provided some of the impetus behind Trump’s “America first” platform and his ultimate Election Day victory.

Although McCain admitted that U.S. foreign policy over the last 25 years hasn’t worked, he still called for more foreign intervention.

“For eight years we basically did nothing in response to some of the most horrendous war crimes in history. At least [Trump] did something,” McCain said. “Now, I hope that there will be a strategy to follow that up. And America is about a moral superiority and our willingness not to fight every fight but at least respond to horrendous acts of inhumanity and war crimes and also, by the way, Syria will continue to have the spread of al-Qaieda if we don’t take care of Bashar al-Assad.”

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  • Ed

    Only a Jerk-Wad like mcclain would say something like that; what a DOLT mcclain, the Song-Bird is !

  • DrArtaud

    McCain, and the warhawks of the Republican party, are indeed lower than low. They push the narrative of evil Assad, and suppress the pure evil committed by muslims, including isis, and the U.S. Backed rebels. The U.S. backed rebels are muslim terrorists that the U.S. supplies, trains, and funds for the sole purpose of overthrowing Assad’s regime so that the U.S. can install an oil or natural gas pipeline across Syria to benefit Europe and reduce their alliance on Russian energy.

    Assad, a muslim, runs a secular govt. He protects Christian and muslim groups that are not actively involved in trying to overthrow the Syrian govt. Assad uses the Syrian airforce to strike rebel and isis threats against Syrian Christians and towns. McCain et. al. is willing to let the origins of Christianty be wiped from the face of the earth in exchange for a pipeline. Incredible.

    Has anyone heard of these 68+ pro-Syrian children children blown up, possibly by U.S. rebels?…..I didn’t think so. Will Ivanka cry over this, precipitating the president to initiate a cruise missile strike on Syrian opponents? Hardly. But Trump talked again and again about “the kids”, and the world should not tolerate such acts, but we tolerate them fine when done by U.S. backed forces?

    At least 68 children killed in Syrian bus convoy attack

    At least 68 children were killed in Saturday’s bomb attack on an evacuation convoy in Syria that claimed 126 lives, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.

    The majority of those killed in the deadly blast were government supporters taking part in a transfer deal involving residents of pro-government villages and opposition-held towns, according to the Observatory.

    More Than Half Of 126 Killed In Syria Bus Bombing Were Children, Group Says

    No ‘Red Lines’ After US-Backed Terrorists Massacre Idlib’s Foua Civilians

    Ann Coulter: Trump’s Syria Strike ‘Very Strange’

    “And yet, it’s a very hard explain the Syrian attack,” she continued. “And it’s certainly not a vital national security interest. We generally don’t, at least conservatives don’t, rushing around the world for humanitarian reasons. And for that region of the world, Assad is one of the better leaders. There are probably only one or two better than he. He’s not even like a Saddam Hussain murderous thug. He helped us after 9/11, giving us intelligence. It’s a very strange thing we’ve done here. And I feel like it’s such a departure from what Trump said on the campaign trail. And in 2013 on his Twitter feed.”

    Ann Couter: Trump airstrike on Syria very strange