News broke on Thursday night revealing that a top White House staffer had mocked Sen. John McCain's brain cancer. In response to the news, Sarah Huckabee Sanders did her best to deflect, but faced an onslaught of criticism in return.
Q to @PressSec, addressing White House aide's alleged "he's dying anyway" remark on John McCain: "Does the president set the tone, does he bear responsibility for the tone within this White House?" https://t.co/aPPqHxPn6Y pic.twitter.com/yG8zivyR4M
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 11, 2018
Sanders on McCain
Ever since the early days of the 2016 presidential campaign, the rift between Donald Trump and John McCain has been well-documented.
It started when the former host of "The Apprentice" mocked McCain's service during the Vietnam War, infamously saying, "He's not a war hero" due to being captured. Over the last few years, the feud between the two has only escalated, with Trump lashing out at McCain during his routine Twitter rants. However, McCain has recently been battling an aggressive form of brain cancer, which was mocked by Trump special assistant Kelly Sadler. In a recent meeting about McCain's opposition to Trump's nominee for CIA head, Gina Haspel, Sadler was quoted as saying, "he's dying anyway."
Asked whether Pres. Trump regrets his comments during campaign about John McCain being captured, @PressSec tells @jonkarl, "I believe the president has spoken about that; I haven't talked with him specifically about that." https://t.co/96VljkgA1f pic.twitter.com/PCxxNNdkor
— ABC News (@ABC) May 11, 2018
Once Kelly Sadler's remarks were made public, backlash quickly followed by the press, social media, and even the McCain family, most notably Cindy McCain and Meghan McCain.
During the May 11 press briefing, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was forced to responded after a reporter asked if Donald Trump should take any responsibility for the remark. "The president, as I mentioned a few moment ago, supports all Americans if you look at what he's doing every single day," Sanders said with deflection.
After another reporter asked if Donald Trump regretted his previous harsh comments about John McCain, Sarah Huckabee Sanders continued to punt. "I believe the president has spoken about that; I haven't talked with him specifically about that," she said.
Twitter reacts
Following Sarah Huckabee Sanders' remarks, critics on social media didn't hold back their thoughts.
"I typically don't comment on appearances, but Sarah Huckabee is so ugly on the inside, WTF. Is it just me or does that dress scream, "Future prison inmate?" This woman has no soul," one tweet read.
I did a double take as I passed by the TV during her conference today and thought it was odd that she'd be in her prison stripes so soon.
— PeaceSeeker 🌷 (@CaitNapier) May 11, 2018
Set the tone? He wrote the book.
— racej56 (@racej56) May 11, 2018
I’m sure she’ll blame Sen McCain for getting cancer.
— S T E V E N B (@bryantsf) May 11, 2018
"I’m sure she’ll blame Sen McCain for getting cancer," a Twitter user wrote. "Set the tone? He wrote the book," another tweet added. "Smokey Sanders is at it again.
How can she see through her Lyin' Eyes?" an additional tweet stated.
Does he bear the responsibility for anything ever? I believe this is a rhetorical question when it comes to this con man 🙄🙄
— Kerry Allen (@KerryDAllen) May 11, 2018
All of these responses are canned. The Huckster2 has all purpose answers ready to go. This is just what I would expect.
— AlwaysinMotion/A Libra to the core. (@debsoil2) May 11, 2018
Smokey Sanders is at it again . How can she see thru her Lyin Eyes
— ilana mosser (@mossergirl) May 11, 2018
"All of these responses are canned. The Huckster2 has all purpose answers ready to go. This is just what I would expect," a social media user wrote. "Does he bear the responsibility for anything ever? I believe this is a rhetorical question when it comes to this con man," a follow-up tweet read.
