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Don't expect Trump apology for comments on McCain

 
Donald Trump, the real estate developer and television personality, speaks at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa,  July 18, 2015. Trump set off an uproar here with comments critical of Sen. John McCain's war record, drawing immediate and widespread condemnation from rival GOP presidential hopefuls. [New York Times]
Donald Trump, the real estate developer and television personality, speaks at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, July 18, 2015. Trump set off an uproar here with comments critical of Sen. John McCain's war record, drawing immediate and widespread condemnation from rival GOP presidential hopefuls. [New York Times]
Published July 19, 2015

"No, not at all."

That was Donald Trump's response to ABC's Martha Raddatz on Sunday morning when she asked him whether he owed John McCain an apology for suggesting on Saturday that the Arizona senator wasn't a war hero because he had been captured during the Vietnam War.

If you were expecting anything else from Trump, you haven't been paying much attention to his presidential campaign. Or his life. Trump's appeal in the 2016 race appears to be built on saying things and acting in ways that other politicians would never dream of doing. Trump, to his credit, appears to grasp that fact.

"I will say what I want to say, and maybe that's why I'm leading in the polls because people are tired of hearing politicians and pollsters telling the politicians exactly what to say," the Republican candidate told Raddatz.

The fact is that apologizing after a comment judged as ill-advised (at best) by most politicians is the exact opposite of the Trump brand. The sort of people who misspeak and then try to clean up their messes are the very people that Trump derides — and that he believes the public can't stand, either.

Even as Trump was refusing to apologize, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley was in the midst of the misspeak-apology cycle. In response to demonstrators at a liberal gathering in Phoenix on Saturday demanding that O'Malley address police brutality and chanting "black lives matter," the Democratic presidential candidate said: "Black lives matter. White lives matter. All lives matter." He later apologized, saying, "That was a mistake on my part, and I meant no disrespect."

Now, simply because Trump won't pull the full O'Malley doesn't mean that he isn't trying to revise history a bit. In the Raddatz interview, he blames the media for not picking up the entirety of his remarks, robbing them of the context in which he described McCain as a "hero." And, he insists that what he was really saying was that those who are not captured during wartime deserve as much credit and attention as those, like McCain, who have been captured. Which is absolutely fine. But also is not really what Trump said.

Regardless, when impugning a recognized war hero, most politicians would have apologized totally and completely seconds after they stepped off the stage. And it's possible that a comment like the one Trump made about McCain might end — or at least badly cripple — a more traditional presidential bid.

And, who knows — it might wind up doing so for Trump, too. But, if past is prologue for Trump and what people like about him, the McCain comments seem unlikely to be the end of the line. Remember that Trump's appeal is rooted in a sort of "we're Americans, we don't apologize" mentality. He presents himself, and by extension the country, as the sort of person who says what he thinks. Trump speaks, dares you to be offended and then shrugs it off when/if you are.

So, no, we shouldn't expect Trump to apologize for what he said about McCain. Or, really, ever. Don't like it? Tough.