Donald Trump needs to apologize to John McCain.

I do not care for John McCain as a Senator. I think he is far nastier to Republicans than Democrats. I think he ran a terrible race for President. I’m just not a fan of him as a politician.

But John McCain was a war hero. Contrary to what Donald Trump said today, it is not because McCain was captured that he was a war hero. What makes McCain a war hero is that he could have used his father’s ties and position to get released from the Hanoi Hilton. He could have leaked American secrets. He could have readily been a propaganda tool for the North Vietnamese as they released an Admiral’s son to a spectacle of good will.

Instead, John McCain stayed a prisoner of war for over five years, was repeated and savagely beaten and tortured, and did not yield to his captors. That is why he is a war hero. McCain declined efforts to release him as long as there were others still in the Hanoi Hilton. While there he worked to keep the morale of other captives up.

You and I can disagree with John McCain as a Senator. But that does not give any of us, including Donald Trump, the right to attack his military service.

Despite the caricature, Donald Trump is a good person and actually a good guy to work for. I’ve seen him at work. I wish Donald Trump, Sr. were running for President. Instead, we are seeing The Donald®℠™ on stage. That is unfortunate. The Donald®℠™ is a television show creation, not the man who raised up an empire of tall buildings and cares about his employees, the guests and residents of his buildings, and men and women of the country who are chasing the American Dream he found.

But, Donald Trump, Sr. needs to apologize for what The Donald®℠™ said in Iowa today, casting aspersions on the military record of a war hero. Donald Trump is better than this, or at least he should be. Someone who wants to be Commander-in-Chief should not say what he said.

And those of you who are defending the remark, let me say this. I am no fan of [mc_name name=’Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’M000303′ ]. But if you cannot separate his actions in political office from Captain John McCain who refused to be a propaganda tool for the North Vietnamese communists, you need to reconsider your world view. Not everything is political, and not every attack on a politician is proper, fair, or appropriate.