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Cindy McCain on Trump: “Our country needs a strong leader, not a negative Nancy”

Posted at 7:14 AM, Nov 16, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-16 09:57:21-05

 

Cindy McCain believes her late husband Sen. John McCain would be “terribly frustrated and terribly distraught” by the current state of political discourse. She shared her feelings about the lack of civility in politics today and President Trump with “CBS This Morning” co-host John Dickerson in her first interview since the senator’s death in August.

McCain told Dickerson she hopes Mr. Trump will learn from the midterm elections and realize “the country needs a strong leader, not a negative Nancy.”

“It’s very humbling to lose and I hope he learns from it,” she said. “We need our president. We need a White House that’s strong, we need a White House that’s not sparring with each other. And right now I think we’re — things are in disarray, and I would hope through this that he does learn.”

Sen. McCain, a military hero and longtime lawmaker, was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, in July 2017. But he remained an outspoken member of Congress even as he fought the disease.

“He was the one that was kind of the conscience of the Senate, I believe, and his ability to at least bring people together and talk about it in whatever way he could was very important, and we’ve lost his voice,” McCain said.

She believes her husband would want current leaders in Washington to take a step back and learn from past relationships her husband shared with members of the opposite party, like Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy, who died in 2009.

McCain also discussed the message her late husband intended to send with his memorial service, which many saw as a rebuke of President Trump. According to McCain, it was not, nor was that his intention.

“His message was just that we need civility…we need to go back to a country that was lovingly respected around the world, even in times of difficulty. And understood that when we gave our word we meant it.”