The following column is the opinion and analysis of the writer.
In July of 2015, Sen. John McCain visited U.S. troops in Afghanistan. As the Director of Intelligence (J2) for U.S. and coalition forces, I had the honor of joining him for a small working dinner at our Kabul headquarters. Having just gotten off a plane following the 16-hour flight, McCain — despite his fatigue — was engaging and knowledgeable. He was fully invested in the discussion — listening carefully and countering forcefully when something didn’t comport with his understanding or beliefs.
Until that night, I hadn’t been a huge McCain fan. In televised Senate hearings, I thought him to be unnecessarily harsh and quick to criticize. But that evening, during a wide-ranging discourse on U.S. policy in South Asia, and Taliban and coalition operations, I saw a man who truly understood why our presence there mattered; who viscerally understood the deployed troops’ experience; who empathized with those of us who had spent years in the Middle East and South Asia fighting our nation’s wars.
I saw the John McCain who was an American hero — uncompromising precisely because he had “been there.” War had shaped his world view. America was indeed first — but not at the expense of our friends and allies who share our values and carry their share of the burden. When McCain left us two years ago, we lost a champion of American values — and our military lost a kindred spirit whose perspective, whether you agreed with him or not, was well-reasoned, rational and mature.
The void left by McCain has yet to be filled. We see flashes of strong and righteous Republican leadership — but too infrequently. Donald Trump’s dissenters are immediately and severely chastised, attacked and ostracized. I vividly remember the strident 2016 comments from Sens. Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio about candidate Trump’s character and fitness for office. Those malevolent attributes have been on display for more than three years. Yet the party has remained silent — many becoming apologists for the president’s misdeeds and missteps.
The Senate majority and House minority have become echo chambers for the president. Abdicating their roles as members of separate and equal branches of government, many with sycophantic fervor, they enabled this president to run roughshod over our Constitution. I am astounded and saddened by their abandonment of their responsibilities to perform their duties as representatives of the American people and hold this administration to account.
This president fancies himself to have been a great general had he served. But he didn’t serve. He avoided uniformed service to the nation. I served in combat with many superb generals. This president doesn’t measure up — hard stop. His disregard for the truth, narcissism, placating of despots and manifest ineptitude are all attributes that get troops killed in combat.
In his eloquent eulogy for his friend, Joe Biden said “character is destiny … John had character.” The decadeslong relationship between McCain and Biden was sealed by mutual respect. I believe that the man I had dinner with in Kabul in 2015 — who understood right from wrong, who put country above party, who knew what it truly meant to be an American — would view Biden as the only rational choice for America this November.
This November, I will do the same. I will remember congressional timidity that has been anything but a profile in courage. I will remember a president who said nothing to the leader of a country accused of bounty payments to Taliban fighters willing to kill U.S. troops. And I will remember that while people and political positions can evolve, personal integrity and principles must not.
