Steve Schmidt was so furious about White House staffer Kelly "joke" at Senator John McCain's expense his voice shook while he railed against Trump and his White House.
I'll summarize it this way: Steve Schmidt has a deep and abiding love and respect for Senator John McCain, and he feels that way because he knows the man and he knows his history.
Further, Schmidt is livid about what Trump ALLOWED White House Staffer Kelly Sadler to say in a staff meeting, and even more livid about the absolute culture of disrespect paid to a man who made sacrifices Cadet Bone Spurs can't imagine, much less make.
"McCain's life has been about decency and honor," Schmidt said, voice shaky, "Compared to a president who is unworthy to say his name out loud."
"A man who is small and vile and mean and cruel and narcissistic, a man who is a coward, a man who dodged the draft, a man profoundly unworthy, unworthy enough that he can't even understand at a conceptual level the meaning of John McCain's life."
He wrapped up with this: "I don't think there's a lot of parents out in this country today who are saying, 'I want my kid to grow up like Donald Trump.' And one thing I know for sure, there will never be a person on television, not now and not for a thousand eons that says what I said about Donald Trump -- that he's a great man."
"He's a small and vile man and that's the difference between the two men," he concluded.
I would not echo some of Schmidt's highest accolades for Senator John McCain. But I will not forget when he stood up for candidate Barack Obama in 2008 and corrected the woman at his rally claiming Obama wasn't born in the United States and was some kind of evil Manchurian candidate. At it's core, that was the only decent and human thing to do. It's an attribute Republicans have chosen to abandon, merging their greed, avarice and corrupt ways with everything from the Religious Right to Corporate America.
John McCain doesn't deserve angel wings, but he sure as hell deserves more respect than he's gotten from the "small, vile man" in the White House and the toadies who mock decent people and hope they die.
