|
 "Flattery secures his friendship, criticism his enmity," wrote
McCain in "The Restless Wave," which he co-authored with
longtime aide Mark Salter.
"It is hard to know what to expect from President Trump, what's
a pose, what's legitimate," McCain said in the book that is due
to be released on May 22. An advance copy was sent to Reuters by
publisher Simon & Schuster.
McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, remains one of
the strongest voices in his party on foreign policy, despite a
battle with brain cancer. He has been credited with championing
civility and compromise in Congress during an era of acrid
partisanship in U.S. politics.
The 81-year-old Arizona lawmaker, who has served in the Senate
since 1987, has also been both a critic and target of Trump, who
during his 2016 presidential campaign disparaged McCain's war
record by saying he was not a hero after enduring 5-1/2 years as
a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.
In his memoir, McCain said Trump had appeared to mock the idea
the United States should promote its values abroad and slammed
him for threatening to kill the spouses and children of
terrorists during his campaign.
"His lack of empathy for refugees, innocent, persecuted,
desperate men, women and children is disturbing. The way he
speaks about them is appalling," said McCain, who still chairs
the Senate Armed Services Committee despite his long medical
absence from Washington.
At the same time, McCain noted Trump's praise of Russian
President Vladimir Putin and said he "seems just as smitten"
with Chinese President Xi Jinping, leaders whom McCain accused
of repression.
"He has showered with praise some of the world's worst tyrants,"
McCain added.
He also accused Trump of failing to raise U.S. concerns about
human rights.
"The world expects us to be concerned with the condition of
humanity. We should be proud of that reputation," McCain said.
"I'm not sure the President understands that."
Trump's branding of unflattering news stories as fake news -
regardless of their validity - was a technique "copied by
autocrats who want to discredit and control a free press,"
McCain said.
The White House did not immediately offer any comment on
McCain's accusations.
[to top of second column] |
POLITE REBUFF
McCain was the central figure in one of the most dramatic moments in
Congress of Trump's presidency when he returned to Washington in
July 2017, shortly after his brain cancer diagnosis, for a crucial
middle-of-the-night vote.
Still bearing a black eye and scar from surgery, McCain gave a
thumbs-down signal in a decisive vote to scuttle a Trump-backed bill
to repeal the Obamacare healthcare law.
In the book, McCain recalled how Trump called him shortly before he
cast his vote.
"I listened quietly as he asked me to reconsider. I don't remember
exactly how I responded, but it was a polite rebuff," McCain wrote.
McCain mocked Steve Bannon and Sebastian Gorka - whom he called some
of Trump's "weirder" advisers - saying he was relieved they had left
the administration.
"Bigger misfits haven't been seen inside a White House since William
Taft got stuck in his bathtub," McCain wrote, referring to early
20th-century President William Howard Taft.
McCain concluded his memoir by citing Robert Jordan, the main
character in Ernest Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls," who said
as his death approached: "The world is a fine place and worth
fighting for and I hate very much to leave it."
"And I do too," McCain wrote. "But I don't have a complaint. Not
one. It's been quite a ride."
(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Additional reporting by Will Dunham,
Susan Cornwell and Jeff Mason; Editing by Bill Trott and Peter
Cooney)
By Peter Szekely
(Reuters) - Bill Cosby's wife of more than 50 years jumped to his
defense on Thursday, blaming his sexual-assault conviction last week
on a corrupt prosecutor, a pliant press and a lying accuser that she
said led to a false verdict and stirred a lynch mob against him.
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