Meghan McCain on defending Trump fans' 'right to love him' and on receiving the Obamas' 'kind gesture'

Aside from her work on The View, Meghan McCain may be best known for being the outspoken and fiercely protective daughter of Sen. John McCain. But she’s got plenty to say about two other prominent political figures.

The first is former President Barack Obama, who defeated her father in the 2008 presidential election. In a new interview with Glamour, McCain reveals that she was surprised and touched to receive a handwritten letter from the Obamas on the occasion of her wedding to conservative pundit Ben Domenech last November.

“It was such a kind gesture, you know?” she told the magazine of hearing from her family’s onetime rivals. “I disagree with him on many things, but kind gestures go far.”

The 33-year-old TV host, who later asked former White House adviser Valerie Jarrett to pass on her thanks to the Obamas, added that she misses the days of bipartisanship and less contentious political chatter.

Which brings us to President Trump. McCain has been vocal in her criticism of the president’s attacks on her father, who has brain cancer. Even so, she’s careful not to alienate the conservatives who support Trump.

“There are people I know who love President Trump and think that he’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened to America,” she told Glamour. “I understand those people. I’m not shocked by them. I defend their right to love him. But I do think character and rhetoric matter. What’s put out into the world and the universe matters. I’m just glad I don’t have to reconcile with those kinds of demons.”

The legacy of her father — whom she calls “the sun in my universe” — is paramount to McCain, who takes pride in the Arizona senator’s integrity.

“I have these moments where I wonder if my father could have become president if he’d had to do it [how] the Trumps did,” she said in the interview. “It 100 percent wouldn’t have been worth it to me. I would not have signed on for it. And he wouldn’t have done it. If you have to win that way, it’s not worth winning, from my perspective. Because when you’re out of office, what does your life look like?”

McCain’s interview appears in the September issue of Glamour.

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