Meghan McCain calls Trump's veiled jab at her father 'incredibly hurtful'
The CPAC speech wasn't the first time Trump has publicly criticized McCain.
— -- Meghan McCain said on "The View" today that President Donald Trump's recent veiled jab at her father during a major speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference last week was "incredibly hurtful."
The comments came as her mother, Cindy McCain, joined her as co-host of "The View" today and said the senator was "doing okay" despite receiving chemotherapy and radiation for brain cancer.
Trump didn't specifically name Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., during his CPAC talk Friday, but he alluded to him, criticizing the 'thumbs down' McCain made after voting against the Republican health care repeal plan.
"Boy, oh, boy. Who was that? I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t want to be controversial, so I won’t use his name. Okay? What a mess," Trump said at the speech on Friday.
Trump's comments prompted boos from the crowd, which Meghan McCain found offensive.
The CPAC speech was just the latest time that Trump publicly criticized Sen. John McCain. During the 2016 campaign, Trump said McCain, who was a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War, was "not a war hero... I like people who weren't captured."
Meghan McCain indicated she was surprised by Trump's comments because she had spoken to Trump after past instances and felt they had reached an understanding.
"President Trump attacked my father during the election ... and there was a report in Axios in the fall that he had been physically mocking my dad's war injuries and I was very upset, I tweeted about it and then I get a phone call a few days later that was like 'the president would like to talk to you,'" Meghan McCain said on "The View" today.
"I had a really nice conversation with him and Melania and I really was under the impression that this sort of fight between our families, and between him and my father especially, at this particular moment would end," she added.
"I understand the argument. He's talking about policy and that's the attack but its still incredibly hurtful especially after I've had this conversation with him on the phone to have this moment of booing at CPAC, which is supposed to be the mothership of conservatism and the Republican party, and to sort of see booing at this specific moment in time is incredibly hurtful," Meghan McCain said.
Cindy McCain said that the focus should be on policy and what her husband and his office is working on, including the defense spending bill and a bill to combat human trafficking.
"We have much bigger things to worry about right now than to worry about what the president says," Cindy McCain said.
"More importantly, for my own feeling, we need more compassion. We need more empathy. We need more togetherness... we don't need more bullying and I'm tired of it," Cindy McCain said.
Cindy McCain also gave an update on her husband's health treatments.
"He's doing okay — you know, chemo and radiation is a very tough customer — it does so much good, but it also does a lot of damage," she said.
"He's tough as a boot, he's at our ranch and he's watching today," Cindy McCain said.
Sen. McCain was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, glioblastoma multiforme, in the summer of 2017 and has been receiving treatments since.
John McCain tweeted about his wife's appearance after the show wrapped, sharing a clip of Cindy's call for "more compassion."
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