The impeachment process of former President Donald Trump may be over, but the battle for the future of the Republican Party continues. “CBS Sunday Morning” correspondent Lee Cowan sat down with Cindy McCain – the wife of the late Republican Senator John McCain – to discuss what lies ahead.
“Still bothering me a bit, you know, I don’t feel up to the mark at times. You know, like,“ Oh, who would listen to me, a little bit, ”McCain revealed to Cowan, adding that she knew that people listened to her, and she was “grateful” for it.
McCain is no stranger to the influence her surname has in politics, as she appeared by her husband’s side to enthusiastic applause on public occasions.
For more than 40 years in the late Arizona senator’s life, she stood by his side – including his two runs for the White House.
She lost her husband in 2018 to brain cancer. The man who was never president was mourned by several
“I never thought I would say this, I miss the chaos in the house,” said Cindy McCain.
It was the “chaos” when her husband “came in” that McCain said she missed the most since his death.
“Something always happened. It was always something,” she said. So I miss that. I miss the commotion and … I miss his partnership. And his friendship. And his love. And it’s – you know, it’s just – it’s day to day. ‘
With her loss, the Senate would also have lost its conscience. But McCain is confident it will find its moral center again.
‘Our side has turned to the right. It will come back. It will come back, ”she said.
To see how far that political pendulum has gone, McCain said, look no further than the former president’s second impeachment trial.
His acquittal on the charge that he fueled the uprising at the Capitol was proof, she says, that the GOP is in danger of becoming a party determined by the personality of one man.
“We must overcome this. We must. Not just as a party. But as a country. We cannot allow this,” McCain said.
Asked if she thought there was going to be a rift within the party, McCain replied “probably”.
‘I know something is going to happen. I know that a lot, ”she said. “Or our party is dead if we don’t.”
And if her late husband was still alive before the uprising, McCain said he “went down the hall and started fighting.”
“I mean, he absolutely … he wouldn’t have been hiding,” she laughed. “I guarantee you he wouldn’t have gone to the safe room. I’m not suggesting there is anything inappropriate about going to the safe room. But – just, he was a fighter. He never would have watched and let that happen. He just wouldn’t have done it. “
Months before the attack, Cindy McCain publicly urged her fellow Republicans to turn their backs on the Trump wing of the party – and vote Joe Biden as president instead.
Looking back, McCain said it was not a lighthearted decision.
“I’ve thought about it and prayed a lot,” she said. ‘I could no longer sit back and yell at the television like everyone else, about what was going on, and just complain without doing anything. And so I did all I knew, and that was to support him. ‘
McCain also addressed rumors of a possible role in the Biden administration – pledge “to do what the president wants me to do”.
‘When he comes back and suggests,’ Look, we need you here, I want you to do something ‘. Of course I would. You can’t refuse, you know, when a president tells you, “We need you,” she said.
The McCain and Biden families have been friends for a long time. In 1979, the now first lady Jill Biden introduced John McCain to the then Cindy Lou Hensley.
“It was at a cocktail party in Hawaii, and I was with my parents. Jill is the one … “Why don’t you go talk to him? ‘I think he was looking my way. I wasn’t paying attention anyway, ”she said.
John McCain would later add Mr. Biden to the Senate. While their views on the aisle differed in many ways, their friendship never faltered.
“I saw my husband argue and fight with Joe Biden, with Ted Kennedy and others. But he did it for the good of the country. And that’s what we have to do now. We have to do it for the good of the country, McCain said.
However, she said, “it was never personal.”
“They were best friends,” McCain said.
But her approval from the now president was personal to the Arizona GOP, which voted to disapprove of McCain for her apparent defection in backing a Democrat.
“God, it’s laughable, I’m sorry,” McCain said of the move. “There are a lot of names in the Republican Party in Arizona that have been censored … I’m going to get T-shirts made with all the names on them.”
But she wasn’t just the misfit woman – Cindy McCain had a political life of her own. She has a long history of traveling around the world to promote human rights issues and is a strong supporter of veterans and their families at home. In 2019 McCain was an election observer in Ukraine.
She currently chairs the board of the McCain Institute for International Leadership, where she focuses on initiatives that combat human trafficking.
However, McCain has never had the desire to take up elected office herself, and says she still doesn’t.
The widow has found her way of life without a husband, enjoys her grandchildren and spends time with family.
During the pandemic, she and her daughter-in-law started creating recipes for what she calls ‘quarantine cocktails’ – and posted them on Instagram, where they became popular.
“It went really well, I didn’t expect that,” McCain laughed.
One of the most popular was her mixed watermelon margarita:
- 1 cup of frozen fresh watermelon cubes
- 8-10 oz tequila
- 4oz triple sec
- 4-6 oz freshly squeezed lime juice
- 10 oz fresh watermelon juice
- fresh watermelon triangle (for garnish)
Lee Cowan’s Review – “It’s strong, but that’s good!”
Cindy McCain has a lot to toast despite everything – a stroke in 2004 put both her mobility and her mood in pretty rough shape.
To give her a boost, McCain returned to a longtime love – cars, race cars especially – and took lessons in the art of drift racing.
She said that the return to her beloved hobby “contributed 100%” to her recovery.
“To celebrate something I could do and learn, it just meant everything to me,” she said.
McCain confronted her fear of saying it in much the same way. She bought a Cessna-182 there in the 1980s and learned to fly it herself.
‘It’s ridiculous for me to have a fear of flying. So I thought I would just do this to boost my confidence. And then at least I know what’s going on. And in the end I loved it, ”she said.
However, grief has proven to be a more difficult obstacle to climb. She moved out of the Arizona home she and the senator had shared and bought a home in the Phoenix ward where she grew up.
But Senator John McCain’s presence is still large – parts of his life are all over Cindy McCain’s new home. By the fire lie the shoes he wore during his first campaign for Congress in 1982, which McCain had bronzed.
The bronzing company wrote back to me saying, Are you sure you want to do these shoes? Laughed McCain. “We usually have these baby shoes!” And I said no, I want them! Look at the holes and everything! “
John McCain was a war hero and statesman – which is why history will record his achievements.
But for Cindy McCain, it’s more personal. His politics were rooted in the family, she says, which is still most important.
And she wants to continue his legacy – something McCain said she should do.
It’s the right thing to do. And maybe for my grandchildren. You know, that’s part of it, too, ”she said. ‘I want them to know him. Even though they never did, they never will, I wish they knew him. “
The McCain Institute website has more information about Cindy McCain’s work, including the latest initiative, REAL friends don’t, aimed at raising “the awareness and empowerment of parents, carers and young people aged 8-16 about online safety and the risks that young people may face online.”