"Give me a break with this." Former POW’s daughter nails Bannon’s fake patriotism

When then candidate Donald Trump cruelly mocked Sen. John McCain’s time as a prisoner of war, it was a repugnant example of his utter disrespect for military heroes.

Trump — who never served in the armed forces himself — claimed that McCain was only seen as a hero “because he was captured.”

“I like people who weren’t captured,” Trump said snidely.

So when Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon went on a rant on stage at the “Values Voters Summit” about Republican senators not condemning fellow GOP Sen. Bob Corker for insulting Trump, and invoked the military in the process, McCain’s daughter had something to say:

Trump slammed my dads service when both of my brothers were (and still are) currently serving. Give me a break with this. https://t.co/yuLqqio5QL

— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) October 14, 2017

Corker, a retiring Republican from Tennessee, recently compared the White House to an adult day care center. He followed that with a stunning conversation with The New York Times, in which he warned that Trump’s recklessness could lead the country “on the path to World War III.”

Bannon, channeling his authoritarian instincts, sought to silence any criticism of his former boss. He called out Corker for mocking the ostensible commander in chief when there are soldiers in the field, and demanded other Republicans condemn Corker for his remarks. And he claimed it was “the first time in the history of our republic” that such remarks had been made in this context.

Bannon slams GOP senators for not denouncing Corker, who "has mocked and ridiculed a commander-in-chief when we have kids in the field." pic.twitter.com/IkHXj5BOsA

— Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) October 14, 2017

Of course, Bannon should know all too well about insulting a commander in chief. His white supremacist website regularly praised Republicans who mocked President Barack Obama when he was in office.

CNN’s Jake Tapper brought the hammer down in on Bannon’s hypocrisy, noting that it was “wildly untrue” that this was the first time a senator mocked a sitting president, and citing examples from Bannon’s own website which prove that case.

“In short,” Tapper concluded, “feelings aren’t facts.”

Meghan McCain is rightly angry with both Bannon and Trump. Trump has proven repeatedly that he will disrespect not only military families, but the American flag, and that he has no problem with facetiously proclaiming support for POWs even after his hateful attacks on them.

And if Bannon and others want to mendaciously use the military in their partisan attacks, people like McCain will continue to call out their gross hypocrisy.