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.

Vance’s midterm message: Don’t elect ‘crazy people’ responsible for higher prices

Hope: Remember How the 2018 Blue Wave Fizzled? Turns Out Dems’ 2026 Numbers Aren’t Even Half What They Were Then

Mamdani tells Trump banned White House outlets are welcome at NYC meeting

Maryland hunter’s alleged mistake leaves Delaware mother dead

Deer Hunter Arrested and Charged with Manslaughter After Fatal Mistake

Man Convicted of Murdering Two Teenage Girls Blames ‘Pagan Ritual’ in New Appeal

Watch for Yourself: Dem Gov. Brags She’s Sending People to Homes of Every New Baby to ‘Make an Assessment’ of the Situation

Trump says Mamdani ‘off to a start,’ has ‘great potential’ in visit to mayor’s mansion

Socialist, communist groups coordinate, promote ‘spontaneous’ anti-ICE protests in Austin

Lindsay Clancy’s Attorney Files for Official Investigation Into Holdout Juror

Watch: Trumpeter Improvises to Deliver ‘Most Iconic’ Anthem Performance After Instrument Malfunctions Mid-Song

Watch: Dana Bash ‘At a Loss for Words’ Over CNN Ban at WH, But Then Video of CNN Suggesting WH Ban Fox News Surfaces

Vermont man convicted of attempted murder in shooting of three Palestinian students

Fury erupts over Mamdani parade invite as old Columbus insult resurfaces: ‘Are you kidding me?’

House Democrat Endorses Republican Rep. Mike Lawler in Close Midterm Race

See also Barry Melrose, 1956-2026

“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.