During an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert this week, Cindy McCain — the widow of the late Senator and public figure John McCain — spoke out in defense of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) after House Republicans voted the Wyoming Congresswoman out of a position of party leadership following her refusal to go along with the consistent lies from Trump about the integrity of the 2020 presidential race. Cindy also said that the Republican Party as a whole has “lost” its way amid the tumult.
Speaking to Colbert, she observed as follows:
‘Our party is in such disarray right now… It’s odd now, our party seems to be rewarding bad behavior and then trashing those who tell the truth and are honest about what’s actually going on… I believe we’ll find our way back. But I think it’s going to take awhile.’
Cheney was replaced as House GOP conference chair by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), a Trump ally who has expressed support for the baseless conspiracy theory that there were systematic security problems with the 2020 presidential election. In fact, no court anywhere in the country has ever even partially accepted the idea that Biden’s win was the result of fraud, and in every single state, authorities have undertaken rigorous security reviews of last year’s election results.
While on Colbert’s CBS show this week, Cindy also discussed how she felt that her late husband would have responded to present circumstances. As she poignantly put it:
‘I feel deep in my heart that John would be very disappointed in what’s going on and the lack of courage on the part of so many of our senators and congressmen to stand up for what this is… What we’re seeing is the demise of the party of Abraham Lincoln right now. We’ve been compromised in so many different ways and we’re no longer practicing what we used to be, and that was the party of inclusion, the party of decency and debate that was not personal. But we’re so far astray right now, it’s awful… That was one of the reasons I endorsed Biden. There was a lack of character, a lack of decency, a lack of empathy — all the things it takes to be a good leader, and it was nonexistent in the White House.’
Characterizing the Trump White House as devoid of “decency” and “empathy” certainly seems on point. Throughout Trump’s time as president, he frequently seemed to prioritize concerns like posting on social media above addressing actually pressing issues facing the nation.
Check out Cindy’s remarks below:
