Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” host Chuck Todd asked Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) to “explain” President Donald Trump’s “behavior” after the death of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).
Todd asked “How do you make sure that yesterday wasn’t a funeral for another era of politics? That this idea that, you know what, the Donald Trump style of politics is now how you win? And John McCain was trying to send the message, ‘No no no no no, don’t go down that road. How do you prevent yesterday from being a memorial service from that?”
Sullivan said, “Look, John McCain was a fighter, there’s no doubt about that. He also was somebody who famously said that honesty, integrity is the core value and keeping your word in the Senate. I actually believe that on a lot of issues, there is bipartisanship in the way Senator McCain has focused on.”
Todd asked, “How do you explain the president’s behavior in how he comported himself this week in regards to John McCain?”
Sullivan said, “Look, we know there’s tension between them. The Trump administration, overall, was very engaged. You had an important speech the vice president gave at the ceremony of the laying in state in the dome. Yesterday, there was a number of folks from the administration –”
Todd interjected, “You are trying to gloss over it, why? It was the president of the United States.”
Sullivan said, “I’m not trying to gloss over it. Here is what I think is more important. Yes, there was tension between the president and John McCain. This week, though, has been all about John McCain and the unity of his vision of courage, of patriotism, of freedom, of service before self.”
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