I had forgotten Trump borrowed a joke from Chris Rock regarding his comments about McCain. Yes, the joke was mean-spirited in response to some negative comment made by McCain against Trump, but a joke nonetheless. Those comments are now being used to prompt people to believe the current unsubstantiated hearsay on Trump (which is why he shouldn’t have said it in the first place). Anyway, the article below provides some context to the situation over 4 years ago.
Donald Trump was on the hot seat Monday night, defending his controversial comments about Senator John McCain when he said: "He is not a war hero. He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, ok? I hate to tell you. He is a war hero because he was captured. Ok, you can have -- I believe perhaps he is a war hero."
Bill O'Reilly on Monday night suggested that Trump may have been inspired by a Chris Rock routine from 2008 when McCain was running for president against Barack Obama.
In 2008, Rock joked: “He was a war hero that got captured. I don't want to vote for the guy that got captured. I want to vote for the [expletive] that got away.”
On Monday night’s O’Reilly Factor, Bill O’Reilly said to Trump: “I want you to be honest; you do think John McCain is a hero. I know you do.”
“I do and by the way, I said it. I actually said it four times,” Trump said.
Trump, who rarely, if ever apologizes for anything, sounded like he's softening a little on McCain. He said: “Certainly if there was a misunderstanding, I would totally take that back. Hopefully I said it correctly.”
On The Kelly File, John McCain’s daughter, Meghan, couldn’t be angrier. She said that Trump’s comments were “The grossest, most disgusting comment I have ever heard.”
Trump, who never served in the military, did wear a uniform when he was a student at the New York's Military Academy.