Republican Sen. John McCain delivered a pretty stunning speech Friday at an international security conference in Germany in which the senator made clear that he views Donald Trump's presidency as a threat to the West's well-being and world order as a whole. Aaron Blake writes:
McCain suggested the Western world is uniquely imperiled this year — even more so than when Barack Obama was president — and proceeded to question whether the Western world will survive.
“In recent years, this question would invite accusations of hyperbole and alarmism. Not this year,” McCain said. “If ever there were a time to treat this question with a deadly seriousness, it is now.”
McCain reportedly never attached his critique of the changing world order directly to Trump, but his prose were laced with references to the blurring of fact and fiction and a "hardening resentment" toward immigrants, refugees, and "especially Muslims."
But perhaps most notably, McCain painted a picture of a U.S. government at odds, and perhaps even at war, with its leader.
I know there is profound concern across Europe and the world that America is laying down the mantle of global leadership. I can only speak for myself, but I do not believe that is the message you will hear from all of the American leaders who cared enough to travel here to Munich this weekend. That is not the message you heard today from Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis. That is not the message you will hear from Vice President Mike Pence. That is not the message you will hear from Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly. And that is certainly not the message you will hear tomorrow from our bipartisan congressional delegation.
Holistically speaking, that’s major agency heads, lawmakers, and the vice president—in other words, the rest of the government v. Trump.
Indeed Sec. Mattis dedicated his speech to reassuring attendees of the U.S.'s continued commitment to NATO. As for McCain, it sounded like a "game on" moment. Who knows if he can deliver.
You can watch below.