Why did the crowd laugh?
I think the crowd laughed because the idea that Trump prefered the guy who didn’t get captured was funny....Trump wants winners.
However, I think it shows that Trump doesn’t “get” military culture. There is no shame in being captured if you have no further means to resist, and I’d say McCain qualifies as an honorable POW in that respect.
His skills as a pilot can be questioned (Lost at least one plane due to pilot error, a second crashed plane investigation finding was changed from “no engine failure” to “engine failure” two weeks after it was issued, and he accidentally flew through power lines in Spain).
You can think he might have gotten soft treatment because he was the son and grandson of Admirals, you can wonder at his interest in keeping POW debriefs classified, but his capture seems perfectly honorable.
Trump would have been better served by a different line. I get where he was trying to go, in his world of mega-deals you want winners. I think the audience was smart enough to get that, and the outrage is almost entirely manufactured by his GOPe and media enemies taking his comments out of context.
Since then, I think he’s done a fair job in responding. I don’t see him quitting over this.