Republican Reactions to McCain Were a Warning Sign of MAGA

Last updated on: March 12, 2026 at 9:15 am by Julie Nichols

Republican Reactions to McCain Were a Warning Sign of MAGA 2026-03-12T09:15:00-05:00 Julie Nichols

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I want to talk about John McCain for a minute. Looking back and understanding that I was a partially-closeted Democrat when John McCain ran for president in 2008, I observed the reactions from various people towards him.

I cannot think of anyone who served our country more honorably in our armed forces than John McCain. This man was an American politician and naval officer who represented Arizona in the United States Congress for over 35 years, first as a U.S. representative, then as a U.S. senator until his death in 2018. As a member of the Republican Party, he was the party’s nominee in the 2008 presidential election.
He was born into a military family and into the Panama Canal Zone, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, and received a commission in the U.S. Navy. He became a naval aviator and almost died in the 1967 USS Forrestal fire. While on a military mission, he was shot down, seriously injured, and captured as a prisoner of war (POW) until 1973. He sustained wounds that left him with lifelong physical disabilities. McCain retired from the Navy as a captain in 1981 and moved to Arizona.

In 1982, McCain was elected to the House of Representatives where he served two terms. Four years later, he was elected to the Senate where he served six terms. While generally aligning with conservative principles, McCain also gained a reputation as a “maverick” for his willingness to break from his party on certain issues, including LGBT rights, gun regulations, and campaign finance reform where his stances were more moderate than those of the party’s base. (paraphrased source The McCain Institute).

As a first-hand observer and former Republican myself, I cannot think of anyone who tried to work across the aisle more to bring unity more than John McCain. I cannot think of anyone who clarified the lies and softened the hatred of the Radical Right more than John McCain. He was the last single Republican vote to make the Affordable Healthcare Act become law. Millions who were uninsured became insured partly because of John McCain’s vote.

I was still a Republican when John McCain ran for president. I observed the reactions of others. I believe that those Republicans who respected him were the non-MAGA Republicans and decent people at their core. Now that I’m a Democrat, I can understand that some of John McCain’s policies were not progressive enough. And when I started to understand policy better as a new Democrat in 2019, I understood that those policies equate to life and death, so this is why I fully-identify as a Democratic Socialist now. But those Republicans at the time who called John McCain a RINO, those who mocked his military service like Trump did, those who demonized him for defending Obama, I should have been paying better attention. Those same people are MAGA now, and they still support Trump at this late date. They either have little to no ability or no little to no willingness to identify the moral depravity of Trump or acknowledge that Trump is trying to destroy our county and places the world in danger. If these MAGA Republicans, who are not most Republicans, cannot acknowledge the difference between the character of John McCain and the character of Donald Trump, something is fundamentally wrong.

The same Republicans who were ugly about John McCain are the same Republicans who are hard-core MAGA now. They are the same Republicans who embraced grievance-based politics, not traditional Republican or Democratic platforms. This should have been a clearer warning sign to me.

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