Meghan McCain: Dad will ‘be waiting’ on other side
Meghan McCain on Monday took on the Trump White House and today’s political divisiveness, while discussing her dad’s legacy on “The View.”
Her dad, U.S. Sen. John McCain, was diagnosed in July with a typically fatal form of brain cancer and has been at his home near Sedona for most of this year.
Meghan, a political commentator and co-host of the national ABC-TV morning talk show, talked about her father’s legacy with Mark Salter, the elder McCain’s long-time co-author and former Senate chief of staff, and Teddy Kunhardt, the director of a forthcoming HBO documentary on the senator.
“I’m just not scared of death the way I once was,” Meghan said on a snippet of “The View” posted on Twitter Monday morning.
“I know now he’s going to be waiting for me on the other side. And he’s taught me what life’s always about — he always has, but the last year, in particular,” she said.
“He’s so brave, and coming together as a country and not delving into this crap that we’re at right now, with divisiveness and not being able to speak to the other side, and you have to hate the other person, and we have no decency, and death jokes are acceptable, and you can never apologize — that is not the McCain way, and it’s never gonna be.”
This month, a White House aide dismissed McCain’s opposition to President Donald Trump’s nominee for CIA director by saying in a private staff meeting, “It doesn’t matter; he’s dying, anyway.”
The aide, Kelly Sadler, called Megan to apologize for her remark. Megan has said she told Sadler she needed to apologize for the remark publicly. She has not.
McCain and Salter’s book, “The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations,” is set to be released today. HBO’s docudrama, “John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls,” will be released on Monday — Memorial Day. McCain saw the film while he was in the hospital in April, Megan said.
An emotional clip of the documentary aired on “The View.” On it, the senator said he understands the viciousness of glioblastoma, and approaches every day with gratitude.
“I will continue to do everything that I can, but I’m also very aware that none of us live forever,” the senator says. “And I’m confident, and I’m happy and I’m very grateful for the life I’ve been able to lead. And I greet the future with joy.”
Filmmaker Kunhardt recalled talking to the senator in Arizona about what he wanted the documentary to show. He said McCain wanted viewers to see his imperfections, and to hear his call for today’s increasingly polarized lawmakers to work together for the good of the nation.
“He really wants to pull the country back together, and he kept on saying, ‘This is my last fight,’ and we thought he meant cancer,’ “Kunhardt said. “And he said, ‘No, it’s about pulling the country back together.’”