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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Carsen Holaday

Meghan McCain calls out family friend Lindsey Graham over Disney World getaway

Meghan McCain is calling out Lindsey Graham, one of her late father’s best friends, for enjoying a Disney World vacation during the Department of Homeland Security shutdown.

The Republican senator, 70, was pictured at the Florida theme park over the weekend amid Donald Trump’s escalating war on Iran as well as the government’s partial shutdown. He was photographed riding Space Mountain, walking through Magic Kingdom with a bubble wand and brunching at Chef Mickey’s restaurant, according to pictures obtained by TMZ.

McCain, who once said Graham was like her “uncle,” criticized the South Carolina representative’s getaway in an X post shared Monday.

“South Carolina is a very proper, cultured, extremely influential and important state in American politics,” the 41-year-old wrote. “They can do so much better than Lindsey Graham holding a bubble wand at Disney World to represent their state.”

She posted again on Tuesday and encouraged TMZ to increase its coverage of politicians, writing, “Especially with Lindsey Graham!”

Representatives for Graham did not immediately return The Independent’s request for comment on McCain’s remarks.

The former The View co-host also reshared several posts on X ridiculing Graham, including a Daily Wire article branding him “the world’s saddest Disney adult.”

She reposted right-wing commentator Matt Walsh, who said: “While our country is at war, our airports are a mess, DHS is not funded, and our elections are not secure, Lindsey Graham is wandering around Disney World with a bubble wand. This is an image that should live in infamy.”

Graham has defended his trip to Disney World by saying that he was in town for business. He insisted the Disney getaway was only after “meeting in South Florida on Friday with Trump official Steve Witkoff and others to talk about the possibility of normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel.”

McCain’s father — late Republican Senator John McCain — was one of Graham’s best friends on Capitol Hill. The two worked alongside each other during McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, and McCain campaigned for Graham during his 2015 presidential bid.

Meghan McCain with her mother, Cindy McCain, and Lindsey Graham during Halloween on the campaign trail for John McCain in 2008 (Getty Images)

After her father died of brain cancer at age 81 in 2018, McCain distanced herself from Graham due to his alignment with Trump. She wrote on X in 2021, “Lindsey Graham may consider himself a member of my family, but he is not and hasn’t been for a very long time. He certainly doesn’t speak for me or my life experiences. Full stop. The media should stop treating him like he is an expert on anything McCain related.”

Earlier this month, she warned Trump officials about Graham advocating for Trump’s war with Iran.

“I’ve known Lindsey Graham since I was a child,” McCain wrote on X. “I am imploring anyone who will listen in the Trump administration to stop sending this man out as a surrogate. He is scaring people and doing damage to whatever message you’re trying to sell to the American public about the Iran war.”

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