Senator John McCain laid to rest
CABRERA: Senator John McCain's death is capped what has been a summer from hell for President Trump. Take a look at everything that has happened in just the last few months. There was the North Korea summit and what hasn't happened since followed by the Helsinki summit with Russian president Putin. Shortly after that, President Trump faced severe blow back over the family separation policy at the border. To this day, nearly 500 children remain in shelters away from their parents. After that, the president's long-time attorney, Michael Cohen pleaded guilty and his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was found guilty. EPA chief Scott Pruitt was ousted after a series of ethics scandals. Trump launched new tariffs, increasing fears of a trade war. There were talks of possible pardons and then this weekend the veiled references to Trump at Senator McCain's final farewell. All of this in one summer. CNN political commentator Matt Lewis is joining us now. Matt is also a senior columnist at "The Daily Beast." And you have a new piece that touches a little bit on all of this. In it you write that McCain's death is a metaphor for the Republican Party. What do you mean by that?</s>MATT LEWIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right. In this piece I talk about also Charles Krauthammer, the great conservative columnist who died in June, sort of at the beginning of the summer. And of course now we have John McCain at the end of this summer. And I do think it's sort of a turning of the page. Krauthammer and John McCain both have been, you know, one of them as a statesman, one of them as an opinion leader, but they were very active in the conservative movement, in the Republican Party from the Vietnam era, through the Reagan era, through 9/11 and onward. And it does seem like their brand of conservatism is out of vogue, at least for now, and that this is a turning of the page. And then I think it's somewhat symbolic as we head into the cold of winter right now. I think the Republican Party is no longer springtime for -- it's no longer Reagan -- for Reagan conservatives at least.</s>CABRERA: Do you think this is actually a moment of reckoning for the party, whether they want to be the party of John McCain or the party of Donald Trump?</s>LEWIS: I think that has been decided for now at least. I think the party clearly decided it is the party of Donald Trump. Now, there may be some buyer's remorse at some point. There may be some second- guessing, but for now, it is Donald Trump's party.</s>CABRERA: Does what we saw though in that Washington Cathedral translate at all to Capitol Hill this week?</s>LEWIS: I don't think that there are any long-term ramifications from an event as important as this event was, as uplifting and, you know, as it was to watch, I think at the end of the day you go back to the partisanship and the rancor and the bitterness and the polarization. The one thing that I think could happen from an event like this though is that seeds are planted. I mean, there might be a young person out there watching who sees this life of sacrifice that John McCain led and then hears the speech from President Obama or President Bush and that they are inspired. So you never know what seeds are planted, but I'm not naive enough to think that things are going to look any different this week.</s>CABRERA: What do you see as the impacts on voters come November?</s>LEWIS: You know, I think that voters are -- it's going to be, I think, about energy. I don't think it's going to be about civility, per se. I think if you are a Democrat or a liberal, you are going to want to fight Donald Trump and fight fire with fire. [18:0003] And if you're a Republican, you are going to be thinking about, you know, protecting your guy and maybe Supreme Court picks.