MUNICH — The late Sen. John McCain was a “strong-willed and hard-headed” leader with the courage to deliver hard messages to friends, according to Vice President Mike Pence, just like President Trump.
Pence lavished praise on McCain at the inaugural John McCain dissertation award ceremony, held in the Maximilianeum, the neo-Renaissance seat of the Bavarian legislature. He then pivoted abruptly to Trump, whose relationship with McCain was one of mutual loathing.
“And I’m pleased to say that America has such leadership today,” Pence said to the bemusement of the late senator’s widow, Cindy, and dozens of foreign policy leaders.
In an ambitious attempt to bandage over domestic and geopolitical wounds, Pence continued: “In one moment he [McCain] would speak to you in light terms, always setting you at ease, and in a few moments that would change, as he would tell you how things really needed to be. And I think that’s a distinctly American quality. It’s a quality I promise you that we have in the president of the United States today.”
Cindy McCain appeared to differ, saying of her late husband in what sounded like an allusion to Trump: “He knew the alliance was being tested by adversaries without and even by friends within.”
Former German Ambassador to the U.S. Wolfgang Ischinger recalled McCain in language similar to Pence but drew no parallels to Trump. Instead, he urged allies not to abandon the U.S., no matter their feelings about the current commander in chief. “He [McCain] was a friend who spoke his mind and did not shy away from telling you if he thought you were dead wrong,” he said.
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“John McCain embodied what makes this conference special. Good friends argue about what the best way forward is. Good friends listen and are ready to learn from each other. Good friends don’t let each other down. Or, to paraphrase John McCain’s final speech here in Munich, they don’t count each other out.”
Cindy McCain offered a similar plea to American allies to stick with the U.S. “I’m counting on all of you my friends to honor the precious beautiful things that are still entrusted to our care,” she said. “I’m counting on you to be brave, I’m counting on you to be useful, I’m counting on you to keep the faith and never give up though the true radiance of our time may at times seem obscured, though we will suffer adversity and setbacks and misfortune, never ever stop fighting for all that is good and just and decent.”
