McCain's son backs Harris, blasts Trump Arlington Cemetery incident
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Sen. John McCain with his children, Meghan McCain and Jimmy McCain, in 2013. Photo: Laura Cavanaugh/Getty Images
The youngest son of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), 1st Lt. Jimmy McCain, recently registered as a Democrat and plans to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris, he told CNN in an interview this week.
The big picture: The beloved former Republican senator's family members have come out in recent years against former President Trump, but Jimmy McCain's stance marks the most public distancing from the GOP.
Zoom in: Jimmy McCain, who has served in the military for 17 years, expressed outrage at the Trump campaign's encounter at Arlington National Cemetery last week, calling it "a violation" and "a painful experience."
- Following the circulation of photos of Trump smiling at gravesites with families of fallen service members, the campaign was accused of using the site for political purposes.
- A cemetery worker also confronted Trump's team to enforce rules against using the setting for political purposes, and an Army spokesperson has since confirmed that an employee was "abruptly pushed aside" during that enforcement. Exact details are not yet known.
- The Trump campaign has said it had permission for a photographer.
"It just blows me away," McCain told CNN. "These men and women that are laying in the ground there have no choice" in becoming a backdrop for a political campaign.
- "I just think that for anyone who's done a lot of time in their uniform, they just understand that inherently — that it's not about you there. It's about these people who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the name of their country," he said.
- The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
What he's saying: "Many of these men and women, who served their country, chose to do something greater than themselves ... and they chose to serve their country," McCain told CNN.
- He added: "That's an experience that Donald Trump has not had. And I think that might be something that he thinks about a lot."
- After years of being a registered independent, McCain said he registered as a Democrat with the intention to vote for Harris. He added that he "would get involved in any way I could" to help her win.
Zoom out: John McCain himself, an advocate of bipartisan politics of the variety President Biden also championed during his 2020 run, was critical of the party's new leader before his death.
- His wife, Cindy McCain, endorsed Biden in 2020 and joined the board of his presidential transition team after her husband's death and served under his administration as U.S. representative to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture. She has not yet made an endorsement in the 2024 presidential race.
- Their daughter and Jimmy's sister, podcaster and former TV personality Meghan McCain, said Tuesday that she respects "the wide variety of political opinions of all of my family members and love them all very much" but the she remains "a proud member of the Republican Party." She added that she is not voting for Harris or Trump.
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