Trump Avoids John McCain's Terminal Health but Mentions Kim & Kanye After Senator Stops Treatment
While many members from across the aisle expressed their well wishes to John McCain, Donald Trump continues to remain silent.
Instead, the president gave shout outs to Kim Kardashian and Kanye West at a fundraising dinner for the Ohio Republican Party in Columbus Friday evening, hours after McCain’s family announced he will no longer be seeking medical treatment for stage-four brain cancer.
“All of a sudden those numbers started going up, up, up, and we did great. Now we’re doing great and Kanye West liked me. And that really lifted my [numbers],” Trump praised the rapper during his speech as seen in a video obtained by NBC News.
“Kanye West has some real power! And he’s got a good wife too in Kim, I’ll tell ya. She really is. She did a great thing, a great thing,” he continued, referencing how he pardoned Alice Marie Johnson following the Keeping Up with the Kardashians reality star’s months-long campaign.
“That was through Kim Kardashian, I think it was terrific,” added Trump, who even sent his “warmest regards” to North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
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Trump has yet to comment on McCain’s decision to end his treatment for terminal brain cancer.
In a statement released on Twitter, the McCain family explained that the 81-year-old politician — who was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer with a median survival rate of just 15 months, in July 2017 — made the decision.
Sen. McCain, who has served Arizona in Congress since 1982, learned about his diagnoses with brain cancer after undergoing a surgery to remove a blood clot above his eye in summer 2017.
RELATED: Meghan McCain Thanks Supporters for Their Prayers as Dad John McCain Stops Cancer Treatment
“Last summer, Senator John McCain shared with Americans the news our family already knew: he had been diagnosed with an aggressive glioblastoma, and the prognosis was serious,” the statement said. “In the year since, John has surpassed expectations for his survival. But the progress of disease and the inexorable advance of age render their verdict. With his usual strength of will, he has now chosen to discontinue medical treatment.”
“Our family is immensely grateful for the support and kindness of all his caregivers over the last year, and for the continuing outpouring of concern and affection from John’s many friends and associated, and the many thousands of people who are keeping him in their prayers,” the statement continued. “God bless and thank you all.”
McCain previously survived three bouts of melanoma, an aggressive skin cancer that can spread to the brain and cause bleeding.
He was diagnosed with invasive melanoma in 2000, and has been regularly screened by his doctors. Two other malignant melanomas had also been removed: on his left shoulder in 1993 and his left nasal wall in 2002. All were declared Stage 0.
RELATED: How John McCain Has Battled Glioblastoma — an Aggressive Brain Tumor — Since His Cancer Diagnosis
Friday’s speech was not the first time Trump has snubbed McCain.
Eleven days before, on Aug. 13, the president neglected to mention McCain when he signed a defense spending bill that was named in honor of the former POW.
Trump signed the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act at Fort Drum in New York but never said McCain’s name aloud — and even omitted his name from the title of the bill.
