Cindy McCain: Trump’s GOP ‘Not the Party My Husband and I Belonged To’

The widow of former Sen. John McCain, Cindy McCain, says President Trump’s nationalist-populist Republican Party is “not the party” she and her husband “belonged to.”

During an interview with Politico‘s Women Rule podcast, McCain said the party of Trump — centered around a pro-U.S. worker agenda — is not what she and her late husband were a part of.

“We have, on my side of the aisle, on the Republican side, we see a local party in Arizona that’s not functioning well,” McCain said. “And it’s excluding people. And it’s excluding people for the wrong reasons.”

“If you’re not walking the line, then you’re out,” she continued. “That’s just not right. That’s not the party that my husband and I belonged to.”

McCain also seemed to take subtle jabs at Trump’s way of communicating with his supporters, bypassing the establishment media and pundit class.

2025 shockers: The biggest moments that rocked the campaign trail

The True Story of St. Nicholas Is Much Better Than the Myths About Reindeer and the North Pole

Schumer Sinks to Lowest Approval Rating of All US Political Leaders

Most shocking examples of Chinese espionage uncovered by the US this year: ‘Just the tip of the iceberg’

Crime lords turn Motor City into car-theft supermarket for Middle East buyers: ‘Somebody’s getting paid’

LeBron’s Friend and Head Coach Eviscerates His Team After Christmas Meltdown: ‘Don’t Care Enough to Be a Professional’

Leftist Celebrity Scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson Gets Roasted After He Tries to Debunk Timeless Tale of Rudolph on Christmas Eve

Is Gavin Newsom’s social media strategy starting to get stale?

If You Live in One of These 19 States, Get Out for the Sake of Your Kids: They’re Suing HHS Over ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ Ban

Florida man allegedly steals 400 pounds of avocados to buy Christmas presents for children

Kamala Cries Sexism, Proves Why She’s Not Fit to Be a Leader: ‘I Don’t Aspire to Be Humble’

‘Perception vs. reality’: Trump’s economy picks up speed — but voters aren’t buying it yet

Trump and former Fulton County codefendants plan to hold Fani Willis to ‘maximum legal accountability’

Nude burglar arrested on Christmas night after allegedly breaking into two luxury Florida homes

Former Florida law enforcement officer accused of forcing 6-year-old underwater in hotel pool: report

“I think we’ve seen the end of men like my husband. At least for right now,” McCain said.

“The inability to even discuss issues — differing issues — it’s degenerated into name-calling and Twitter responses, and all of these things that not only do they not help the argument, but they don’t help foster good relationships with people,” McCain said.

While McCain’s husband lost the 2008 presidential election running on the decades-long Republican establishment platform of neoconservative foreign interventionism, extending the Bush-era tax cuts, and amnesty for illegal aliens, Trump swept to victory in 2016 with his “America First” agenda of a travel ban from terrorist-sponsored countries, a promise to bring U.S. troops home, and a commitment to pulling out of multilateral free trade deals and global agreements like TPP and the Paris Climate Accord.

Trump’s economic nationalist platform won him majorities in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania — states not won by Republicans in years.

In a March 2019 poll by Harvard/Harris, about three-in-four U.S. voters said they support a nationalist-populist approach to trade, immigration, and foreign policy — that is, tariffs on foreign imports to protect American industries, less immigration, and less foreign intervention overseas.

Last year, former presidential candidate and columnist Pat Buchanan said McCain’s preferred part of former President George W. Bush’s party had “become a Trump party” on all the defining issues of the time.