Thought he'd stand up for all Vets and POWs aginst Trump when he personally insulted him. Guess political expediency always trumps morals
He definitely should have trashed Trump after Trump made the comment "I like people who weren't captured" that was specifically aimed at McCain but insulted all POWs and veterans. If not that, he definitely should have trashed Trump after Trump went after the Khan family and suggested that he had made sacrifices that were equivalent to theirs.
I don't know why he didn't, but I think that probably:
1) He was worried about a Tea Party challenger taking his Republican nomination and getting elected to the Senate. The selfish reason that he would care about this is that he'd lose the Senate seat. The selfLESS reason is that he was worried a complete dumbass would be elected to the Senate.
or
2) His dementia has progressed far enough that he just follows the direction of his handlers.
So, I sympathize with him. Just a bit. Placating people like Trump is not the long term solution to solving the problem, however, which makes me think that if #1 is true McCain was penny wise but pound foolish.