When we last checked in on Donald Trump’s one-sided feud with a man who’s been dead for almost a year, he was telling reporters, “I was not a big fan of John McCain in any way, shape, or form,” after the Wall Street Journal reported that the White House had tried to hide the USS John S. McCain from Trump‘s line of vision during a trip to Japan in the hopes of avoiding an international meltdown. That was preceded by months of highly presidential attacks against the late senator concerning everything from his refusal to help Trump repeal the Affordable Care Act to McCain’s academic performance to not getting a “thank-you” for supposedly giving McCain “the kind of funeral he wanted.” Which brings us to today, the day the president suggested to a room full of people that McCain is probably in hell for not stripping millions of people of health care, and also that he’s happy the guy is dead.

“We needed 60 votes” to repeal the ACA, Trump explained during an appearance before the Faith and Freedom Coalition, “and we had 51 votes. And sometimes, you know, we had a little hard time with a couple of them, right? Fortunately, they’re gone now. They’ve gone on to greener pastures—or perhaps far less green pastures. But they’re gone. They’re gone, Bill. I’m very happy they’re gone.”

As the Washington Post notes, it’s possible to argue—and the White House almost certainly will—that Trump was not referring to McCain but senators Bob Corker, Jeff Flake, and Dean Heller, all of whom Trump has railed against for not being sufficiently enthusiastic about axing Obamacare. But as reporter Aaron Blake points out, Heller and Flake were replaced by Democrats, and it’s highly unlikely that Trump prefers that to supposedly insubordinate Republicans. Plus, as Yashar Ali reminds us, “Trump obsesses over the ACA repeal vote [far] more than anything else when talking about rogue GOP Senators. Corker and Flake voted for the repeal. McCain, famously, voted against it.”

Also, the president is pretty much known for this kind of thing:

Trump also has a habit of using plausible deniability to his advantage. He often walks right up to the edge of saying something extremely offensive without directly saying it, and then allows his supporters to connect the dots. Then, when his critics connect those same dots, he claims victimhood. It’s impossible to say with certainty that Trump’s comment was about McCain, but it’s hardly far-fetched. And it seems quite possible it’s the impression he intended to leave and the controversy he wanted.

So, yes, it is entirely possible that an odious gasbag who lives for drama was referring to someone other than his longtime, deceased enemy when he spoke of “greener pastures or perhaps far less green pastures.” But it’s not super likely.

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