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Mr. Trump’s attacks were all the more misguided, veterans’ advocates said, because Mr. McCain has an extensive record of being helpful and involved. ... In just the last year, Mr. McCain was a key player in negotiations with Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who was then chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, to pass a broad-based overhaul of the Department of Veterans Affairs after the disclosure that staff members had been manipulating wait times to make it appear that patients were receiving care faster than they were. Mr. McCain was also a lead sponsor of the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act — one of the first pieces of legislation that became law after Republicans took over Congress this year. (Peters, 7/20)

TRUMP: "I'm very disappointed in John McCain because the vets are horribly treated in this country. I'm fighting for the vets. I've done a lot for the vets ... He's done nothing to help the vets. And I will tell you, they are living in hell." ... THE FACTS: McCain ... was instrumental in a landmark law approved last year to overhaul the scandal-plagued Department of Veterans Affairs. McCain worked with the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont, as well as Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House veterans panel, to help win passage of the law, which aims to alleviate long delays veterans faced in getting medical care. The VA says it has completed 7 million more appointments for care in the past year, compared with the previous year, but veterans still face increased wait times in Phoenix, Las Vegas and other places. ... McCain pushed for a provision in the law allowing veterans who live more than 40 miles away from a VA health care site to get government-paid care from a local doctor. (7/21)

Businessman Donald Trump surged into the lead for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, with almost twice the support of his closest rival, just as he ignited a new controversy after making disparaging remarks about Sen. John McCain’s Vietnam War service, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. ... The rankings are more important than early national surveys in previous campaigns because only the top 10 candidates, based on an average of the most recent national polls, will qualify for the first Republican debates. The first debate will be held Aug. 6 in Cleveland. Fox News Channel is the sponsor of that event and established the rules for eligibility. (Balz and Craighill, 7/20)

The speech drew a sharp contrast in tone and content with Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, who has begun rolling out a series of policy proposals, many of which would involve expanding government’s role. ... Jeb Bush’s pledge to “turn off the automatic switch on discretionary spending increases” also struck an odd note. That category of spending, which covers federal spending governed by annual appropriations bills, has been shrinking as a share of the budget. Bush said that he would propose ideas later for the entitlement programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, that account for most of the long-term growth in federal spending. (Lauter, 7/20)

In Cedar Rapids, when a voter asked him Friday during a town hall about what he would do to keep jobs in Iowa, Walker took that as an opportunity to dive into his five-point economic plan, making a few connections between Obamacare and her question, but generally sticking to a script that he used everywhere else. (Glueck, 7/20)

To these activists, it was the Democrats’ failure to prosecute Wall Street after the 2008 crash that enabled the tea party movement and the Republican Party’s comeback in Congress. It was the kludged, mandate-driven design of the Affordable Care Act that prevented it from being a boon to Democrats, as Medicare for all might have been. (Weigel, 7/20)