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Trump: 'I Don't Need to Be Lectured by Failed Politicians'

On Sunday evening the business mogul wrote an op-ed for USA Today where he touts his record on veterans issues and claims Arizona Republican Senator John McCain has "made America less safe."
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Say what you will about Donald Trump, he certainly has a knack for keeping his name in the news.

Facing criticism from all sides, on Sunday evening the business mogul wrote an op-ed for USA Today where he touts his record on veterans' issues and claims Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain has "made America less safe."

The piece comes amid a firestorm of public shaming as Republicans and Democrats alike chide Trump for deriding McCain's service to his country during the Vietnam War.

"I don't like losers," Trump, an alleged Republican presidential contender, said at the Iowa Family Leadership Summit during a question-and-answer session.

"He's not a war hero," Trump said mockingly of McCain. "He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured."

While it's true that McCain was captured, during his five and a half years in a prison camp he refused to be released early ahead of other soldiers who'd been held longer than him. He was tortured, and even took a bayonet in the groin.

Trump avoided being drafted via a medical deferment in 1968 because of bone spurs in his heels, according to him.

In his op-ed, Trump takes a heavy handed swipe at nearly the entire sprawling GOP 2016 field, saying: "A number of my competitors for the Republican nomination have no business running for president. I do not need to be lectured by any of them. Many are failed politicians or people who would be unable to succeed in the private sector. Some, however, I have great respect for."

McCain has remained silent on the Trump comments, so far, but the senator will be on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" at 7:30 a.m. ET on Monday. The interview will also be shown on NBC's TODAY Show.