The ghost of McCain still haunts Trump

A group of U.S. senators staged a virtual town hall this week to discuss the “historical ramifications” of the late Sen. John McCain’s thumbs-down vote, which killed an attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

That vote still bedevils President Donald Trump. It’s an apparition he can’t shake from his dreams, a poltergeist lurking in the shadows of the Oval Office. It continues to spook him.

But it isn’t the only aspect of McCain’s legacy to haunt Trump.

Two of the late senators’ longtime associates, Steve Schmidt and John Weaver, are among the co-founders of the Lincoln Project, a group of conservative Republican strategists and campaign veterans who, according to their website, are “holding accountable those who would violate their oaths to the Constitution and would put others before Americans.” Number one on their list is Trump. The people working for the project (lincolnproject.us) are smart and skilled, and they are producing a steady stream of slick, compelling anti-Trump videos.

Among them would be one called “Failure,” which uses Trump’s own ridiculous claims to describe how cruelly inadequate his response to the coronavirus pandemic has been.

Another deals with Trump recently having said of accused child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell that he wishes her well.

Maxwell is the indicted companion of Jeffrey Epstein, a Trump friend who killed himself in jail after having been accused of running a child sex ring.

Tara Setmayer, senior adviser to The Lincoln Project, is quoted on its website saying, “While the country continues to grieve unspeakable loss from the Trump Administration’s failed COVID-19 response, the President wishes an alleged pedophile pimp well from the White House podium. Shameful.”

The Lincoln Project is not yet a major player in the presidential campaign in the sense of money, but it is clearly getting under Trump’s skin, as demonstrated by one of his tweets on the group, which reads:

Most of the money raised by the RINO losers of the so-called “Lincoln Project”, goes into their own pockets. With what I’ve done on Judges, Taxes, Regulations, Healthcare, the Military, Vets (Choice!) & protecting our great 2A, they should love Trump. Problem is, I BEAT THEM ALL!

Did he actually beat them? Because a victor is rarely spooked by the vanquished. And after all this time, the spirit of John McCain, along with some of his living surrogates, are haunting Trump.

He’d like to rid the White House of these political paranormal spirits. But there’s not a ghost of a chance.