McCain explains why Trump's tape was the last straw

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

published 11 October 2016

During a debate against his Senate campaign opponent Monday night, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) shed some more light on why he dumped Donald Trump. McCain withdrew his endorsement of Trump on Saturday, after a tape from 2005 surfaced featuring Trump graphically talking about how his celebrity status lets him "do anything" to women. "When Mr. Trump attacks women and demeans the women in our nation and in our society, that is a point where I just have to part company," McCain said. "It's not pleasant for me to renounce the nominee of our party. He won the nomination fair and square. But this is — I have daughters. I have friends. I have so many wonderful people on my staff. They cannot be degraded and demeaned in that fashion."

Though McCain was slow to endorse Trump, he did so in spite of Trump's remarks suggesting McCain was "not a war hero" because he was a prisoner of war. He has made it clear that though he withdrew his support for Trump, he will not be voting for Hillary Clinton. On Monday, he suggested he might write in Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).