Trump/McCain duel missed the real story. Martin Crane’s letter, “Trump showed ignorance with McCain comments,” (July 27), does well defending John McCain’s exemplary heroic achievements from years past but Donald Trump’s disrespect misses the point. How dare the GOP feign Trump outrage pretending all military service sacrosanct when they invented this campaign tactic disparaging, dare I say “swift boating,” John Kerry’s three-purple-heart Vietnam service.

This disingenuous, crocodile tear double-standard “sinking” Kerry’s 2004 presidential ambition is not close to the disrespect Donald Trump demonstrated while he, well, was playing the character Donald Trump.

Ultimately, the Republican’s swift boat strategy played a “be careful what you wish for” role. Yeah, George W. Bush was re-elected in ’04, but Bush was Barack Obama’s best ’08 election “trump card” giving us the first black president ever; and a woman in ’16?

Jay Lustgarten

Stonington