As John McCain health deteriorates after being diagnosed with brain cancer in 2017, many of the senator's colleagues have had to try and imagine what a political climate without such a notable member of the Republican party will look like. In addition to grappling with the party's loss, members of his inner circle have already begun planning his funeral. According to the New York Times, those closest to McCain have already decided that Donald Trump won't make the funeral invitation list.
As the nation watches the Republican Party disintegrate from within, it's apparent that identifying as a conservative no longer means what it used to. While moderates used to encompass a decent proportion of the party's whole, the general shift in ideology has taken a few steps towards the right on the political spectrum since Trump's 2016 campaign.
Although McCain has taken stances that one might consider thoughtful, he still is very much a Republican. However his positions on policies like the proposed repeal-and-replace of Obamacare, to which he voted against, has made him somewhat of a controversial figure within his own party.
The feud between Trump and McCain reportedly started when the latter criticized the former for cowardly faking a doctor's note to avoid the draft during the Vietnam War. As a former prisoner of war, McCain has often referred to that experience when deliberating his position on defense related topics. While running for president, Trump exploited McCain's trauma, as he's done with many people, and horrendously exclaimed at one of his rallies, "I like people who weren’t captured." He's also attacked McCain on Twitter, his preferred medium, and has received a decent amount of backlash in the process.
Needless to say, when having to deal with the reality of watching those closest to you preemptively plan your funeral, polite political practices no longer play such an important role.
