Cindy McCain, widow of the late Senator John McCain, said her husband would not recognize today’s Republican Party.
She spoke with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell ahead of Thursday’s ceremony at the White House, where Senator McCain will posthumously accept the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
Cindy McCain said her husband, a longtime Republican senator from Arizona, will “fight like the Dickens” to bring the GOP back together.
“I don’t think my husband would realize that,” she said. “One thing I know, he would fight like the Dickens to put it back together and put it back the way it was during previous Republican administrations and also previous administrations.”
Her comments come amid an internecine among Republicans, much of which revolved around the role Donald Trump was to play.
Cindy McCain, widow of the late Senator John McCain, said her husband would not recognize today’s Republican Party
Cindy McCain, who endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential campaign and was named his ambassador to the United Nations agencies for food and agriculture, said she is still a Republican.
“I’m still a Republican. I believe in the party and I believe in what we stand for, but at the moment we are lost. And so I’m hoping that maybe over the years we can correct ourselves and do what Republicans do best, which is work for smaller governments but work nonpartisan,” she said.
John McCain, who died of brain cancer in 2018, was known for his “loner” persona, in which he often defied his party — including his decision to save Barack Obama’s Affordable Healthcare Act.
He was a close friend of Joe Biden, who delivered one of the eulogies at his funeral in Arizona.
He was also a bete noire of Donald Trump and repeatedly criticized the then President for not being invited to his state funeral in Washington DC. Trump had criticized McCain for being captured by the North Vietnamese in the Vietnam War. McCain was a prisoner of war for five and a half years.
“I like people who haven’t been captured,” Trump famously said of McCain in the 2016 presidential election.
Cindy McCain will be at the White House for the Medal of Freedom ceremony on Thursday.
Cindy McCain will be at the White House on Thursday when John McCain posthumously receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden – via Senator McCain with Cindy and Joe Biden in the Capitol during the Obama administration
Cindy McCain commended Rep. Liz Cheney for doing the “right thing”: “It could end up hurting her, her political aspirations. But she can sleep at night knowing she did the right thing,” she said
She also had warm words for Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, who has become a target of Trump for serving on the committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot and voting for his second amendment.
Cindy McCain called Cheney an “amazing” person and said she spoke to her often.
“She’s an amazing person and I’ve spoken to her both on the phone and email etc during this time,” she told MSNBC.
She commended Cheney for doing what is right for the country, not what is politically correct. Trump is fighting hard against Cheney, supporting her main GOP opponent Harriet Hageman and championing Hagement in Wyoming.
McCain acknowledged that Cheney’s actions could cost her her seat in Congress. Polls show their trailing haguement.
“I just think her strength and her ability to look beyond the now and look for what’s good for the country and it could end up hurting her, her political ambitions. But she can sleep at night knowing she did the right thing,” she said.
In addition to John McCain, President Joe Biden will present the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 17 people Thursday, including actor Denzel Washington and gymnast Simone Biles.
The honor is reserved for individuals who have made exemplary contributions to United States prosperity, values, or security, to world peace, or to other significant societal, public, or private endeavors, the White House said.