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.

California AG sues hospital that ended gender transition treatment for minors to comply with Trump policies

Trump backs former critic Sununu in high-stakes swing state Senate race

Deputy AG denies 5-year-old, father has asylum claim after family released from ICE detention

Florida Airbnb host arrested after alleged lewd act with vacuum at Disney-area resort community

Trump announces two-year closure of Trump Kennedy Center for major renovations

NYPD officers save choking 2-year-old boy, bodycam video shows

Government shutdowns may be fewer, but they’re increasingly disruptive

Trump considers legal action against Michael Wolff and Epstein estate after latest document release

What Tyler Robinson’s defense wants hidden and why prosecutors and media say no in court

‘Christ or Chaos’: Former Pastor of Invaded Minneapolis Church Has a Message for America

How Activists Embed Leftist Ideology in K–12 Schools

Deputy attorney general says ‘I don’t know’ why Gabbard was present at Georgia FBI raid

Senate Republicans push for House GOP rebellion against funding package, voter ID legislation

From Rodney King to Spitting and Kicking Alex Pretti, the Left’s Flawed Hero Worship Never Changes

Former Planned Parenthood Worker Gives Haunting Account of Her Past Work

“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.