A granddaughter of Sen. John McCain (Ariz), the 2008 GOP White House nominee, has come out in support of this year’s Democratic presidential pick, Hillary Clinton, over her own party’s nominee, Donald Trump.
In a Medium post titled, “For this Republican, Never Trump means ‘I’m With Her,'” Caroline McCain writes that she became opposed to Trump last summer when he questioned her grandfather’s status as a war hero.
“I like people who weren’t captured,” Trump said at the time.
John McCain was held prisoner during the Vietnam War.
{mosads}While the Arizona senator “responded with grace and forgiveness — as only a man who was held in captivity for years can,” Caroline McCain wrote, “I’ve been nursing a grudge ever since.”
“He insulted my grandfather and attacked the very qualities — loyalty, bravery and selflessness — that he and countless other POWs embody,” she added.
McCain wrote that Trump never won her over during his candidacy, calling him a “misogynist,” “racist” and “demagogue,” citing his remarks on women and minorities throughout his campaign.
She said she decided to support Clinton during the Democratic National Convention this week, where Democratic heavy-hitters touched on themes of American exceptionalism in an effort to win over reticent Republicans.
“The party I grew up in, the party I want to work in and change and push to be more inclusive, betrayed me and countless others,” McCain wrote.
“Loyalty to party can never trump loyalty to country. And loyalty to party means nothing when the party has been poisoned.”
McCain said that while she has issues with Clinton, including “questionable” financial decisions at the Clinton Foundation, she pushed back on “a demonized portrait that has been painted of her for years.”
“I want Donald Trump to be humiliated in November and driven far from the political arena for the rest of his life,” she wrote. “I’m not a Democrat — at least not yet. But this year, I’m With Her.”
John McCain’s daughter, Meghan McCain, a vocal critic of Trump, also tweeted last week as Trump accepted the GOP’s nomination, “The party I was part of is dead.”
Several Republicans who have decided to support Clinton over Trump spoke at the Democratic convention Thursday night, including former Ronald Reagan spokesman Doug Elmets and Jennifer Lim, a director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and co-founder of Republican Women for Hillary.