Senator John McCain (R-AZ) isn’t exactly thrilled about Donald Trump’s big rally in Phoenix this past weekend, declaring of The Donald’s presence in the campaign: “It’s very bad.”
“This performance with our friend out in Phoenix is very hurtful to me,” the one-time Republican presidential nominee told Ryan Lizza at The New Yorker. “Because what he did was he fired up the crazies.”
McCain explained that he and his allies have been pushing against extremists in the Arizona GOP, as he gears up to face a right-wing primary challenge for his Senate seat in 2016. “We did to some degree regain control of the party,” McCain said — but now Trump is messing that all up again. “Now he galvanized them. He’s really got them activated.”
Of course, “fired up the crazies” might seem like an odd complaint — coming from the man who selected Sarah Palin to be his running mate, introducing her to a wide national audience. And ever since then, things have been a bit crazier for that decision.
Photo: U.S. senator John McCain speaking at the Arizona Republican Party 2014 election victory party at the Hyatt Regency in Phoenix, Arizona. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
