Donald Trump has been questioning John McCain's heroism for years

Donald Trump
(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Outrage machine Donald Trump has been spewing controversial opinions nonstop since he launched his presidential campaign in June. On Saturday he finally managed to irk even the Republican National Committee when he questioned whether Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is truly a war hero for his Navy service in Vietnam and subsequent capture.

"He's a war hero because he was captured," Trump said at a summit in Iowa. "I like people that weren't captured."

But that wasn't the first time Trump expressed the sentiment, BuzzFeed News found. Way back in 2000, Trump shared some now-familiar views on McCain with 60 Minutes' Dan Rather:

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Rather: (Voiceover) The way Trump looks at it, he's at least better than everyone else in the race, beginning with John McCain.Trump: I mean, he was captured.Rather: (Voiceover) And he flew combat missions with distinction.Trump: Does being captured make you a hero? I don't know. I'm not sure. [BuzzFeed News]

Meanwhile, Trump claimed he actually called McCain a war hero several times in his comments Saturday, but PolitiFact isn't having it.

Explore More
Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.