Republican Arizona Senator John McCain’s granddaughter Caroline McCain wrote in a Thursday Medium post that she’s supporting Hillary Clinton.
As first reported by The Hill, McCain says that she has “been nursing a grudge ever since” Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump made comments about her grandfather’s capture during the Vietnam War.
“He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured,” Trump said.
The comment, which was made a little over a year ago at a Family Leadership Summit in Iowa, clearly struck a negative note with McCain.
“He insulted my grandfather and attacked the very qualities — loyalty, bravery and selflessness — that he and countless other POWs embody,” said McCain in her Medium post titled “For This Republican, Never Trump Means ‘I’m With Her.'”
“He mocked the sacrifice many have given and the anguish families have endured when their heroes have suffered alone miles away.”
And that grudge clearly isn’t going away.
“I want Donald Trump to be humiliated in November and driven far from the political arena for the rest of his life,” said McCain.
McCain also voiced a frustration that many Americans share in this election: dissatisfaction.
“Roughly four-in-ten voters (41%) say it is difficult to choose between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton because neither would make a good president — as high as at any point since 2000,” according to a report from Pew Research Center.
McCain grapples with her voter identity in the piece, saying she would not identify as a Republican if Trump is elected, but is not quite ready to call herself a Democrat.
She added that she would vote for a third party candidate it she could.
“If we lived in a system where third-party candidates stood a chance to win, then it would be a different choice. A third-party candidate could be a chance to exercise my civic responsibility while protecting my conscience.”
“But I’ve realized that what matters about my vote is not whether it makes me feel good — it’s about whether it leads to the common good.”
McCain has also shared her disdain for Trump on Twitter:
“A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man you can trust with the nuclear codes.”
— Caroline McCain (@ccmccain) July 29, 2016
Um did you forget that Donald talked for 75 minutes? https://t.co/i3uoxMJELg
— Caroline McCain (@ccmccain) July 29, 2016
Loyalty to party can #nevertrump loyalty to country.
— Caroline McCain (@ccmccain) July 29, 2016
