Republican committee member retweets article calling for Senator John McCain to 'just die already'

A member of the Republican National Committee in Nevada apologised after retweeting an article that begged for Senator John McCain, Republican-Arizona, to die.

Diana Orrock, a national committeewoman for the Nevada GOP, shared a story headlined “Please Just F- - - -ing Die Already.” In retweeting the piece, which was published on Medium, Orrock wrote “Amen.”

Several hours after posting the now-deleted tweet, Orrock apologised to McCain and to the Nevada and national GOP, calling the ailing senator “an American hero” - and her own post “disrespectful.”

The article was published on Medium - and shared by Orrock on Twitter - as McCain was recovering from eye surgery.

The Washington Post was unable to reach Orrock, but she told CNN on Monday, before she tweeted her apology, that she wasn't calling for the 80-year-old senator's death - just agreeing with the “sentiments” in the article.

In the article, writer Caitlin Johnstone said McCain “can die a proud, happy man.”

“And he should,” Johnstone added. “Like, yesterday.”

Throughout the article, Johnstone did not mince words. At all.

She described McCain as a “murderous warmongering neocon” and an “evil man” who has “supported every US military bloodbath in his obscenely long lifetime.”

She wrote:

“If you're waiting for the part where I say I'm just kidding and would never wish death on anybody, please allow me to make myself clear: I sincerely, genuinely hope that Arizona Senator John McCain's heart stops beating, and that he is subsequently declared dead by qualified medical professionals very soon. I don't wish him a painful death, I don't wish him a slow death, I don't wish him an unnatural or violent death; I only wish that he becomes incapable of facilitating the merciless slaughter of any more human beings.”

Orrock emphasised that she only wants McCain out of the Senate, not harmed or dead.

“People are going to read things into things,” she told CNN.

Republican National Committee spokesman Ryan Mahoney called Orrock's tweet “extremely inappropriate.”

“Senator McCain is a hero who made countless sacrifices on behalf of all Americans,” Mahoney said, according to The Associated Press. “We look forward to his speedy recovery so he can return to the Senate and the work of the American people.”

Efforts to reach the Nevada GOP on Tuesday morning were unsuccessful.

McCain's office announced Saturday that he'd undergone a procedure at the Mayo Clinic to remove a blood clot above his left eye.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced on the same day that he would delay the vote on the Republican health-care bill as McCain recovers. Two nights later, the effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare, suffered a major blow after two more Senate Republicans declared their opposition to the latest version of the bill.

“Thanks to @MayoClinic for its excellent care - I appreciate your support & look forward to getting back to work! ” McCain tweeted.

Orrock, who told CNN that she doesn't agree with McCain on foreign policy, has been a committeewoman for the Nevada GOP since 2012. She ran for the 9th District of the Nevada General Assembly in 2016, but lost to the incumbent, David Gardner, in the primary election. Gardner was later defeated by Democratic candidate Steve Yeager.

Orrock told the Las Vegas Review Journal last year that she decided to run against Gardner after he voted for a $1.5 billion tax package to bolster education funding.

“I think a lot of politicians have lost sight of what they're supposed to be doing. They're supposed to be representative of the people who elected them, not the lobbyists,” she said then, adding: “If that wasn't a slap in the face of the voters in Nevada I don't know what.”

She has also been a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump.

In October, after The Post broke the story about an Access Hollywood tape in which Trump could be heard making vulgar remarks about women, Orrock said she wasn't offended by Trump's “goofy” comments.

“We understand the context of that conversation from 11 years ago for exactly what it was, two guys talking, trying to outdo each other as to who caught the bigger fish,” she told the Boston Globe. “And to think men don't talk that way about women and women don't talk that way about men, I tell you what, you're living in a very protected world of unreality.”

She also denounced a US Senate candidate from Nevada who decided to not support Trump because of the Access Hollywood tape.

“I am no longer endorsing Joe Heck in the Senate race,” Orrock said in October, according to CNBC. “How hypocritical of him to denounce Trump on comments that were 12 years old and locker room banter? By not endorsing Trump, he is supporting Hillary.”

That same month, she tweeted a list of Republican politicians who opposed Trump, calling for her social media followers to vote them out of office.

The Washington Post