Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) shared his thoughts on the current election, ISIS, China and veterans to a crowd at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism Friday afternoon.
Jeff Cunningham, a professor of practice at the Cronkite School, led the discussion by describing the atypical context of McCain’s political career.
“(He) began his distinguished journey at a naval base in the Panama Canal. From there he moved to an appointment in the Naval Academy, and then from there he spent five and a half years in a P.O.W. prison, and from that strange place in time to nearly six terms in the U.S. Senate,” Cunningham said.
Then McCain took the floor and began his discussion with the current election.
McCain first addressed why he believes millennials are attracted to Vermont Democrat Sen. Bernie Sanders and his idea of free education.
“I’m sure people in this room are carrying this burden of student loans,” McCain said. “There’s so many young Americans that particularly could go into professions like medicine and others, but they’re carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars of student loans.”
However, McCain said the most important issue that the current candidates should focus on is that of the economy.
“I think it’s the economy and, for the first time since 1980, national security, terrorism and foreign policy,” McCain said.
The discussion of foreign policy then moved on to the relations between China and North Korea specifically.
“[Kim Jong-un] is a very dangerous person. This latest missile launch of theirs is very dangerous,” McCain said. “They’re one step away, maybe not one step, but getting near to the capability of launching an intercontinental ballistic missile that would hit the United States of America.”
McCain went on to say how in his estimation the Chinese government could shut down the North Korean economy in a week owing to how dependent North Korea is on China.
He said the Chinese government choose to continue to support the North Korean regime because they don’t want a united Korea on their doorstep.
The foreign relations discussions then shifted to ISIS as the next point of conversation.
“The scholars that I know of the Muslim faith reject totally the ISIS approach to their interpretation of the Quran. Having said that, we need a lot more of our leaders in the Muslim community to stand up and condemn ISIS,” McCain said.
The senator then shared his views about the strength of women in the military.
“Women are qualified to engage in combat if that is their desire to do so. We have all volunteer force. Women have already proven their mettle in various aspects of combat,” McCain said.
Audience member Mary Winters said she found McCain’s talk refreshingly positive.
“There’s been a negative connotation behind the presidential election, so it was kind of nice to hear his side of things,” Winters said.
Contact the reporter at Holly.Bernstein@asu.edu.
