Conservative vf the view, defending her politics, even as the president attacks her fathers legacy. I was never fan of john mccain, and i never will be. With senator mccains brand of statesmanship increasingly feeling like something from a ingone era, what do the mc say now . Firing line with Margaret Hoover is made possible by. Additional funding is provided by. Corporate funding is provided by. Meghan mccain and cindy mccain, welcome to the firing line. Thank you. Thank you but, you know, candidl i always want to saylike, we are peonal friends, as well, a im a huge fan of firing line and grew up watching it, so i think its important to, you know. To disclose the fact that e that weiends and come on this show, but, um, you know, its such an iconic brand. G well, iteful to have both of you here because it has now been sghtly more than a year since the country lost senator mccain. As and he stalwart defender of Democratic Values around the world, in the United States senate, a candide for the presidency of the United States, and a war hero. Th and k about john mccains legacy every day, and i wonder just in the year since his passing, mrs. Mccain, what you feel the public has gotten right about y husbands legacy. I think theyve gotten mostri of it. I mean, people tell me every day theres not a day that passes that someone doesnt say to me, we miss him. We missed his dignity, his respect. S we missed ility to bring people together. Theres a wide divide right now, and he really he was the one that really ke a lot of this together during the years he was in the senate. For me, miss humor and bipartisanship, as well, which is i know not something everyone always brings to it,he buas really funny, and he didnt take himself seriously. Theres a picture of him givg manu raju, whos a capitol hill reporter, the devil ears behind his head. He always found levity and friendship in politics. On ted kennedy waof his closest friends, obviously joe biden, joe lberman, lindgraham, and i miss i miss that it was collegial, that politics was collegl when he was still there. So, i mean, im glad you mentioned ted kennedy because, you know, he had many pieces of legislation, but two of his trademark pies of legislation were these really historic moments where he reached acrossw the aisle, oh feingold, and then the other with ted kennedy one onmmigration reform, the other on Campaign Finance reform. And it feels like a bygone era when that kind of legislative collaboration and cooperation can happen. I remember seeing the pictures of them, and, clearly, these dnes of very different wo views, sitting together intently trying to find a wayrd. And i truly believe weve seenhe last of that. Its so divisive now, and i know for a fact, even though he n here, my husband would be very disappointed in what it is now, what its descend into. Whats happened, structurally or systemically, that you thinki that has made ossible to go back to . Well, in my opinion, the social media has made it very difficult for members ofr congressmbers of the senate to work in an efficient manner. In my opinion, i think that when people are so divisive on twitter towards you or with you or whatever it may be, it a doesnt hething, and i think all too often our members rie responng to twitter rather than doing whatt. So, another thing that johnccain was known for isri being a ma. Id likeou to take a look at one of those maverick moments, perhaps his laere he turned his thumbs down and voted against overturning therd afle care act. [ gasping, applause ] now, theres a backstory to that moment. He risked his life to come back to the capitol to take that. Vo mmhmm, biggest fight i ever got in with him in our life, ever, and i was as you remember, i was screaming at him in the hospit because he had just had surgery on his tumor for his brain cancer, and it was dangerous to fly, and i just remember that flight from phoenix to d. C. Is one of the worst moments and experiences of my entire life because i was watching him the entire time worried something was gonna happ, yeah. Did you know how he would vote . I didnt. I knew that they were a t of people pressuring him. I also knew that he ver agreed with the bill if the bill wast itten correctly. He stated very clearly he had problems with the process and the way the system had broken down, that it had been done behind closed doors, thatic repus had campaigned on it for years and years. Right. And they werent able to deliver what they had promised the american people. I want you to also listen to what he said about what was going on in congress in that time. Lets trust each. Lets return to regular order. Weve been spinning our wheels on too many important issues because we keep trying to find a way to win without help fromro the aisle. We are getting nothing done, my fen. Were geing nothindone r do you think regular or can never return, or is it also about leaderip . Well, it is about its a gre deal about leadership, bui also know because ive been around a long time that washingtons a pendulum. You see it swing one way, and then you see it swing another way. H think were probably gonna have to get thro20, to be honest with you, in my opinion. Its just were too separated right now, not only as parties, but as a country. Why 2020 . Well, i think that thats its either makeitorbreakit. Either trump wins or doesnt, or biden wins or doesnt, and thats a hurdle that i think a lot of people see we have to jump over before we can fix this, one way or another. One of the things the Mccain Institute focuses on is characterdriven leadership. Yes. What is characterdriven leadership mean to you . Well,hat it means and what he wanted it, you know, with regards to t institute, is about teaching young professionals, midcareer professionals from around the world, bringing them here to the United States and spending a year were not talking party politics, were talking about making really good decisions for your country or for your mmunity, whatever it may be. Making decisions that maybee arent always siest to make. You know, some of the hardest things john ever did were making the right decisions on things. Mrs. Mccain, you said that you have never been prouder of him than when u heard his concession speech after the election on november 4th in 2008. I want to watch a moment of what he said. A century ago, president Theodore Roosevelts invitation of booker t. Washington to dine ath the house was taken as an outrage in many quarters. America today is a world away from the cruelnd prideful bigotry of that time. There is no better evidence ofec this than the on of an africanamerican to the presidency of the unittes. Be let there o reason now [ cheers and alause ] let there be no reason now for any american to fail to cherish their citizenship in ts, the greatest nation on earth. [ cheers and applause ]e en went on to say he uld do everything he could to help the incoming president , bara obama. And he even, you know, had the privilege of having barack obama eulogize him at his passing. Mmhmm. Mmhmm. Ow as that relationship . You know, it was it had its moments, yoknow, because they disagreed on things, but john believed in thp it of the debate and believed in the righteousness of the debate. That speech to me, when i read it, because he previewed it for me, ive never heard in i will never hear a speech as good as that ever again because it was the rht thing to say, and it was the thing that the country needed to hear. T mhmm. Especially wit election. So i was very proud of him. I was always proud of him, but i was very proud of him that night. Youay not know this, but in 1998, john mccain appeared on the origin firing line with william f. Buckley jr. , and he was speaking about teen smoking, and herought meghan up. Lets take a look. I i read somewhere that, in the last two or three years, the number of leading men who are seen smoking has increased by 400 or 500 over against seven or eight years ago. Is there something we can do about it . Leonardo dicaprio is an obct of my 13yearold daughters affection to the degree which i have never experienced. So he smokes, shell smoke. Yeah. Yeah, i mean, this young man has captured the hearts of every 13yearold girl in america, and what does he do throughout the movie . Theyre continuously smoking. Bre willis in the die har movies he smokes continuous through those, and im not picking on him or leonardo. I have other problems withbu leonardo. [ laughter ] the fact is. E seduced your daughter. Yes. To distraction. You know, he has website . Anyway, well, thats not surprising. I didnt know that. He has a website . They have a chat room website, my daughter and hero friends,at they can chat about. About leonardo. About leonardo. Its remarkable. Thats what he talked about with william f. Buckley . Ht [ la ] okay, everyone. By the way, i do not cigarettes and never have, so just i was more scared ofd. But i did have a huge crush on him. Which means it starts in the home. [ laughter ] listen to how seriously he took you. He was super tapped in to where you are and what you thought and what you were taking seriously. Yeah, i mean, almost like, sotimes i wish he would have pulled me back a little bit, but. [ chuckles ] been a little bit more involved . He, you know, he was wild when he was younger, and he mawere so much alike in s ways, and to the point that sometimes it itshe good and the bad. Like, i think people see me on the view sometimes and my executive producers like, youre always shooting from the hip, and you jusreact, and yoere intense, and you beli what you believe, and im like, where do you think i got that one from . So john mccain seems to have a new fan base today, and its in the democratic party. Mmhmm. Theres a Campaign Going on,l and whats rinteresting to me is how Many Democrats are invoking his name and his memory mrs. Cain, what do you think about all these candidates d voking your husbands memory . I think my husbuld have a real chuckle over it, i really do. Yeah. Ou now, i respect them, and thats very nice that they would use him, you know, and relay their experiences that they hadh wi. But you havent alwayloved it, meghan. I remember when he was george wallace, when he wasng accused of bacist for even attempting to run against the first africanamerican candidate, and, again, my mom is much more forgiving than i a and i remember people taking real low blows and low shots at him, and i also appreciate people respecting and bringing him up, but i also think that maybe if you hadnt demonized m so much and demonized mitt romney so much, maybe it wouldnt have bred the feeding grou for trump because trump didnt just come. It took a long time to get there, so people now show these clips, and he was always looking to reach across the aisle, to work alongside he was a truly decent, wonderf man. Im not just saying that because ons my father. And now we have sowho has, i believe, no character, no discipline, has no interest inwo ing with the other side, and i think that it was the beginning of it, if we look back now in the past 10 years. Donald trump has raised your dads legacy negatively seven times since his passing. What is it that experience personally, when the president i go crazy. O i turn ie shehulk. It makes me i get very emotional and ve angry, and normally have to call you. [ chucklesus or mynd. For me, i just it make me sad. It makes me sad for the president in that way because he never really knew john. Yeah. Hnever really knew the ki of man that he is and was. And so thamakes me sad because i think he would have learned l and probabed him a great deal. But i also think that, you know, politics is politics. You know, as john says, were fair game, the kids arent,ind ofhing. Im fair game now. Yeah. [ chuckles ] so, i understand. He taught me great lessons about how to be controlled and not let them get to you. I always called my dad heesident trumps kryptonite cause hes likene man he can that will always be loves and revered inry and looked upon by so many politicis as an icon. And i can sit here with 100 certainty President Trump will be an extremely polarizing, controversial figure who i believe has pulled us into darkness in our country, and i thinmy dad was attg to pull us into the light. Ms. Mccain, you just said,u you ow, ys are fair game, the kids arent. Meghan said, well, now i am fair game. You know, youre fair game now c because yourehost of the view, a daily Political Television show that has been called the most important Political Television show in america. What is your experience . cause you really are the only republican on that set i say conservative, because there are other women thatde ne themselves as republican, and and youre a conservative. And you defend conservativeti creds and values every day from that seat. I do. I want to look at one thing youve also said about it. Okay. Yi and i was to explain because one of my producers this morning was saying, why do people love him so much . Wa and like, sometimes its not just that they love trump so much, its that they hate the same things trp hates. Thats whats going on . Who, black people, you mean and immigrants . Ea no, i who do they hate . Who do they hate . You know what, joy . I really come here ery day openminded, just trying to explain it, and its not a fun job for me every day. But who do they hate . I know youre angry. You bet im angry. I get that youre angry that trumps president , like a lot of pele are, but i dont thin yelling at me is gon fix the problem. But being the sacrificial republican every day, im just trying to heres the thing dont feel bad for me. Im paid to do this, okay . Dont feel bad for me. [ laughter ] f est moment on all of tv. I mean, i think it must feel like youre a sacrificial conservative every day, righ i mean, you have to the country is evenly divided, pretty evenly dividedy, ideologicaight . But youre the only one of those four or five that are espousing a view that a much larger percentage of the country holds. Wl, i think its why you and i became friends originally is there just arent that many conservative women real ones in mainstream media. For me, its interesting that w the media always will ale conservative on a giant panel across all networks, unless youre at fox. Ed youre allne. And then, theres a sea of oneop opinion. And i think thats disingenuous to whats going on, and i think for me, i cant stand President Trump, personally. I will not bvoting for him. I did not vote for him. And even for me, im sort of,li , not socially acceptable enough, and i do have times where you have to defend that youre explaining why trp voters support him. I take great pride in the fact that i sort of i did not want to join the view at all. I was not interested, and my d told me to do it. And anything he told me to do, i would do. And so now i take pride in the fact that ive lasted longer than any conservative since elisabeth. A and i was callushy rino for most of my career. All of a sudden, im like the queen conservative, and no ones more surprised about it than i ou. Do you worry the future of the party in a posttrump world . 100 . O you think the party is going to resonate with young people, people your age and younger . I really woy about it, because and the numbers show this, by the way. Whatever you want to say aboutft the r people like aoc, they do a really good job of speaking to young people. And i thk, for us and i always laugh like, young republican groups start at 40. St and i think rump america, for the party, is gonna be aar very, veryplace to rebuild. I mean, i dont know how we horebuild, but, cindy, you your head. As you think about your liildren, your grandchildren, and having a repn party appeal, this concerns you . It concerns me very much, and ill speak for my own home ate, where the party has simply left normal what we would consider normal republicans behind. Until our rty goes back to what we we best at, and that was an open system, an open tent, we invited everybody in, those are the days that i grew up in republican politics, and it was those were good years. Prident trump has done some things that all of us, as meghan said, its been theyve been controversial, theyve been different from what any other present has done and not in good ways. And yet nobody says anything. Dy nocolds him for what really was bad manrs or whatever you want to cl it, whatever issue it was of the day. I mean, we know senator mccain would have if he were alive, but why why not anybody else . I dont know. I donunderstand. I think fear of not being in office or in power. Well, theyre terfied of him, politically, i believe. Do you think if your husband were alive and he were standing up to the president , it would give courage to others to do the same . It did before. Yeah, he gave cover to a lot of people. Mmhmm. Want to ask you about another thing that the Mccain Institute focuses on, and thats sexrafficking. Oh, yeah. I mean, this is one of the pillars and priorities of the Mccain Institute, which is associated with Arizona State universi is a think tank. What ignited your passion for this issue . Well, really, a very longwh time ago i brought meghans sister home from bangladesh, she wafrom Mother Teresas orphanage. And so, several years later, iha an opportunity to go meet Mother Teresa in calcutta, and t did hat. And after i met her and had you know, we had pictures take and all that kd of stuff. I was on my way out to leave the country, but i stopped to buy some sari material for my daughter bridget. And while i was buying it, tre r was this kind bling through the floor of the kiosk i was , and so i asked the guy behind the counter, and he said, oh, no, its just my family. Ey ive down there. And i looked down, and you could kind of see between the slats, and i could see all these little eyes looking up at me. They were clearly children bein. Kept down th and it wasnt you know, they werent his. It was just it was one of those things it was the moment i didnt know what i was looking at, iad no idea what this was or whether or not anyone could fix it, kind of is where i was coming from. So it took me years to really figure out not only t was but what i could do. How big a deal is this . Its epidemic. Its absolutely epidemic. Whats it gonna take to really make a differenceto really make an impact in this fight . A change of attitude, number one. Certainly more awareness, which is what were doing. But more imporntly, the understanding that this is a simple humanrights issue. Its not simple, but it this is a basic humanrights issue. These people are bei deprived of their freedom. John mccain was a ardent defender of human rights and Democratic Values. And you started, on the oneyear anniversary of his passing, a Movement Online called acts of civility. Mmhmm. We did. Whawas that . That was about just what wee been talking about her moving back to civil behavior between t just our government officials but between people dsyour neighbors, your fri want to ask you one more question about joe biden, who was a longtime friend of your dads and your husband. He, of course, is running. You earlr said we have to get past 2020 because itll either be President Trump or joe biden. And i get a little, like th when you sai, i was like [ knocks ] joe biden. I did the same thing. Au b it could be i mean, not to be super cynical, but elizabeth warrens coming up fast a hard right now. Right. So, whats it gonna take . I mean, do you t in the wt you say its a bygone era, in some ways, to sortf reh across the aisle and to do the kind of jockeying that ted kennedy and Russ Feingold did with john mccain, joe biden was part of that era. He was. B has the eassed joe bin . I dont think so. Iope not. Its still in there. I mean, joes a lovely not only a lovely personhe was always a good legislator, in terms how he worked across the aisle, how he you have to remember, joe was there before john was, and john learned a great deal from joe. F you could be helpful to joe biden, would you . In the race . Im trying to im gonna try to sy out of it just because it its i im not im not theci poli in the family. Its really meghan and her father that were. But so im gonna try to stay out of it, but i do i doike jobiden. Hes a very good friend. He helped us through a very dark time. So, if you could be helpful, would you, at the right time . It depends. I mean, i struggle with it will turn out what kind of candidate he ends up being. You know, i still hope for t moderate, bipartisan joe. I think the questionll have to answer is, will he be pulled to the hard progressive left. I have my limitatis with this, as well, and i cant vote for i mean, i would never vote im not voting for a democrat. Ill probably enup writing in paul ryan or something. You wouldnt vote for joe biden if he were running against trump . It depends how he runs. D you know, ends who he chooses. It depends what his policies are. I nt to, like, get there when i get there, but you dont rule it out, though. I always tell people onman is aively on televisionra ng my beloved father who has passed and another man eulogized him. What would you do . [ laughs ] vote for hi i dont know. Again, i have to see, but my love for him and his family and my heartlways beats out my brain, for better or for worse, in politics. Alys. It was joes wife that introduced john and i. Yes. Jill . I didnt know that. Yeah, and its just theyre so intertwined in our life, and that sometimes what makes me a bad analyst right now, i think, because im so emotionally involved. The pain of grief is you cant explain it until youve experienced it. I never couldve understood it. E joe is the most incredible he i call himrief whisperer. The way he interprets pain and grief and loss, ve never nove met no therapist, analyst, guidance counseloring, that possibly compares to him on it. Ad i think the countrys lot of pain. Honestly, i dont know what i would be like without him. I think i would be in an en darker place. Do you has it gotten easier after the year mark . I thought so, but you just i just miss him so much. I miss his sense of humor. I miss watching you guys togeth in sedona. Im not trying to make you cry. Oh, youre okay. But its just it never d snt get easier, and i dont want people to think it gets easier. Because i think theres a lot of stigma about well, youve been through a year, so it should stop being so painful, and its not true for me. For me, its not true. You just learhow to live with it. Yes. It is an honor to have both of you in my lif to have both of you here at firing line, and to have you carry the torch and to continue to carry the torch forward for yo fathers legacy and for your husbands legacy. Thank you for being on firing line hank you. Thank you, margaret. Ov firing line with margaret ho is made possible by. Corporate funding is provided by. The people who give the money to make Mister Rogers neighborhood are the peop contribute to this and other Public Television stations and [captioning sponsored by the u. S. Department of education] its a Beautiful Day in this neighborhood a Beautiful Day for a neighbor would you be mine . Ou could y be mine . Its a neighborly day in this beauty wood