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Fred Hiatt: The point that McCain and Bush were making is much bigger than Trump

It’s no surprise that when President Donald Trump shot back at Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., last week, he failed to engage the substance of McCain’s argument.

“Yeah, well I hear it. And people have to be careful because at some point I fight back,” Trump said in his usual playground style. “I’m being very nice. I’m being very, very nice. But at some point I fight back, and it won’t be pretty.”

But make no mistake: The challenge that McCain threw down a week ago, and that former President George W. Bush joined Thursday, is very much about an idea.