WATCH: Rocket Man moniker ‘doesn’t offend me,’ McCain says

Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) tells The Hill that President Trump’s moniker for Kim Jong Un “doesn’t offend me,” but it “diverts from the message.” 

“I think it’s OK if he calls him ‘Rocket Man,’ but the only thing is, that diverts from the message,” the veteran Senator said in an interview with The Hill. 

Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich (N.M.) refused to “lecture the president on what’s appropriate,” but said calling Kim Rocket Man “is not helpful so, put the bluster aside.”

McCain described the U.S.-North Korea situation as one of “such significance” that hasn’t been faced “since the end of the Cold War.”

“A nuclear capable — a mechanism to strike the United States of America — and there are no good options besides having the Chinese restrain them, and we have depended on that for too long — there are no good options here,” McCain said.

Fellow Armed Services Committee member Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) conceded that the president faces a “hard” situation.

“Gen. Mattis and Gen. Kelly and Gen. McMaster are well-equipped to give him the best advice possible, but this is tough because if China doesn’t help then we have very few options,” McCaskill said in an interview.