De Mortuis Mil Misi Bonum
I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted, which as president I had to approve. I don’t care about this. I didn’t get thank you. That’s ok. We sent him on the way, but I wasn’t a fan of John McCain. – President Trump Speech, 3/21/19
Many Americans are appalled – President Trump is attacking deceased Senator John McCain again, on Twitter, in speeches, and in statements to the press. McCain died in August of 2018; even in Roman times it was said, “de mortuis mil misi bonum;”do not speak ill of the dead. The Romans were aware of the “social inappropriateness” of attacking the dead; and while there was a certain “danger” in stirring the spirit world, it was really more practical: society saw it as an unfair attack, as the dead could not defend themselves.
The Romans had a strong view of heroism as well. There history was filled with great generals and soldiers. Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus was one of the most famous citizen/soldiers: drawn from his farm to lead the Roman Army against invaders, given absolute power to defeat the enemy, winning, then relinquishing his power and returning to his farm. He was the model of the citizen/soldier/leader that Romans, and history, has looked to for inspiration.
Sedona was where John McCain’s home was in Arizona; the “farm” where he spent his final days. McCain, regardless of what the President has said, was a war hero, a man who flew carrier bombers and was shot down over North Vietnam. He spent five and a half years in the “Hanoi Hilton,” a North Vietnamese prison. He returned, served a few more years in the Navy, then retired and ran for office, first in the House of Representatives, then as Senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death.
McCain certainly had has flaws (though the internet nonsense about his career as a pilot, including accusations of starting a fire that almost destroyed the carrier Forrestal, have been proven scurrilous.) He was one of the “Keating Five,” accused of accepting campaign funds to influence Federal regulators (he was cleared of ethical violations, but rebuked by the Senate for “poor judgment.”) And he was well known for his legendary temper.
But McCain was best known for his “maverick” attitude. Generally a conservative Republican, he often took stands against his Party on issues like campaign finance reform, opposing pork barrel spending by the Congress, and regarding US military intervention overseas. It was his final maverick act, the “thumbs down” vote against the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, that gained the eternal hatred of Donald Trump.
Many Americans think that Mr. Trump is simply getting revenge, the same way he has attacked many Democrats and even the husband of one of his own senior advisors. They feel that it is simply Trump, that his mind “wanders” to those that he feels have betrayed him, and attacks.
But there is a more targeted reason that the President is attacking a dead, war hero, Senator. Like everything else in Trump’s world, he is sending a message to those who really have the President’s fate in their hands. It’s not his “base,” that 35% who will stick with him without regard to the facts that come out about him. They accept his “fake news” categorizing of any critical facts, and are willing to take whatever he does as acceptable conduct. It was probably to Trump’s surprise that he found he really could stand in the middle of 5ThAvenue and shoot someone, and it would be OK.
His attack on McCain is much more refined. There are forty-five Democrats in the Senate, and two Independents who vote with them. That leaves fifty-three Republicans in the current body. If the Democrat controlled House of Representatives votes to impeach Mr. Trump (a simple majority) it would take a two-thirds vote of the Senate to convict and remove him. That would require sixty-seven votes; twenty Republican Senators would need to turn against a President of their own Party.
The President is sending those twenty (whichever they may be) a message: I can go so far as to attack a dead hero of the Senate, an American Cincinnatus; what do you think I will do to you. What would be the result of such a concerted attack? While the “base,” the 35% percent who would applaud alongside 5thAvenue, is not a majority of voters; it is a majority of voters in the Republican primaries. Mr. Trump believes that he can turn them against his enemies in the Party should they look to waver on an impeachment vote.
Mr. Trump, and the public, are awaiting the Mueller Report, and the House Congressional investigations that are forthcoming. We don’t know what “facts” may be revealed by these investigations, but it is clear the President is being proactive in attacking them, whatever they are. Should they turn out to be as bad for him as it might seem, then it will require some Republican Senators to take a closer look at Cincinnatus, and at McCain. It might be time for them to make their stand, and return to their farms. Their political careers might end, but their place in history would be secured.
