McCain

FRONTLINE goes inside Sen. John McCain’s complicated relationship with President Trump and his own Republican party. A look at McCain’s life and politics, from POW in Vietnam, to choosing Sarah Palin as running mate, to his dramatic vote against the GOP’s health care bill.

John McCain’s Senate colleagues reveal new details about the night of his dramatic “no” vote on the bill to repeal Obamacare, in the opening scene of FRONTLINE's documentary, "McCain." The documentary goes on to explore the Arizona Senator’s complicated relationship with President Trump — and his own Republican Party.

John McCain’s time as a prisoner of war during Vietnam became a defining experience in his life. It would also inform how he approached allegations that American soldiers tortured prisoners in Iraq.

Just two years into his career as a U.S. senator, McCain along with four other senators became embroiled in the Keating Five scandal. His chief political adviser from 1997 to 2007 said McCain knew the incident would be a “dark stain” on his career.

During McCain’s first run for the presidency in 1999, he styled himself as a political maverick, riding a campaign bus dubbed the “Straight Talk Express.”

The second time he ran for president, John McCain tried to repair relations with powerful elements of the conservative base he had once called “agents of intolerance.”

McCain’s decision to pick Sarah Palin as his running mate would help usher in an anti-establishment and anti-elite politics of grievance that continues to reverberate in American politics today.

As President Donald Trump pushed his first major legislative initiative -- a repeal of President Obama’s signature health care legislation -- McCain was a key vote. He decided to use the moment to take a stand.