--- title: Donald Trump: John McCain Says Health Care Vote Not Personal description: "I was raised in the concept and belief that duty, honor, country is the lodestar for the behavior that we have to exhibit," McCain said. canonical: https://time.com/4955325/donald-trump-john-mccain-affordable-care-act/ author: Suyin Haynes article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-25T04:52:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:34:31.191Z article:section: Politics og:title: John McCain Says His Health Care Vote Wasn’t Personal og:description: "We're very different people," he said of the President og:url: https://time.com/4955325/donald-trump-john-mccain-affordable-care-act/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb07bbbe2d945843/6988df2acf40a848fbc4986a/gettyimages-849623716.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5165 og:image:height: 2905 og:image:alt: Senate Policy Luncheons og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John McCain Says His Health Care Vote Wasn’t Personal twitter:description: "We're very different people," he said of the President twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb07bbbe2d945843/6988df2acf40a848fbc4986a/gettyimages-849623716.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # John McCain Says His Health Care Vote Wasn’t Personal > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Suyin Haynes](https://time.com/author/suyin-haynes/) ## Suyin Haynes Sep 25, 2017 4:52 AM UTC  Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., talks with reporters in the basement of the Capitol on Sept. 19, 2017. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., talks with reporters in the basement of the Capitol on Sept. 19, 2017. Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call,Inc./Getty Images by [Suyin Haynes](https://time.com/author/suyin-haynes/) ## Suyin Haynes Sep 25, 2017 4:52 AM UTC [Republican Sen. John McCain](http://time.com/4955168/john-mccain-cancer-diagnosis/) said that his decision to [vote against the Republican ‘skinny repeal’](http://time.com/4878038/john-mccain-vote-video/) of the Affordable Care Act earlier this summer was not influenced by his personal relationship with President Donald Trump, despite commenting that they are “very different people.” Speaking [in an interview with CBS’ _60 Minutes_](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/john-mccain-fights-back-60-minutes/) Sunday, McCain was asked to comment on whether his deciding vote, which was crucial in [ending that Republican attempt to repeal Obamacare](http://time.com/4877901/john-mccain-skinny-repeal-vote/), was a way to “get back at the President” for [attacking the senator’s Vietnam War record.](http://time.com/3963975/donald-trump-john-mccain-2016-presidential-election/) “If I took offense at everybody who has said something about me, or disparaged me or something like that — life is too short,” McCain replied. “You’ve gotta move on. And on an issue of this importance to the nation, for me to worry about a personal relationship, then I’m not doing my job.” McCain did acknowledge [the differences between himself ](http://time.com/4954614/donald-trump-john-mccain-health-bill/)and the President, saying “We’re very different people. Different upbringing. Different life experiences.” “He is in the business of making money and he has been successful both in television as well as Miss America and others,” McCain said, pointing to Trump’s previous ventures before his entry into politics. “I was raised in a military family.” “I was raised in the concept and belief that duty, honor, country is the lodestar for the behavior that we have to exhibit every single day,” he said. In the latest turmoil over health care, McCain said Friday that he could not [“in good conscience”](http://time.com/4953920/health-care-john-mccain-graham-cassidy-vote/) support the most recent incarnation of the [Republican Obamacare repeal](http://time.com/4954614/donald-trump-john-mccain-health-bill/), also known as the [Graham-Cassidy bill,](http://time.com/money/4950098/how-the-new-republican-health-bill-fails-the-jimmy-kimmel-test/) increasing the likelihood that the bill will not pass. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4955325/donald-trump-john-mccain-affordable-care-act/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4955325/donald-trump-john-mccain-affordable-care-act/"},"headline":"John McCain Says His Health Care Vote Wasn’t Personal","datePublished":"2017-09-25T04:52:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:34:31.191Z","description":"\"I was raised in the concept and belief that duty, honor, country is the lodestar for the behavior that we have to exhibit every single day,\" McCain said.","url":"https://time.com/4955325/donald-trump-john-mccain-affordable-care-act/","keywords":["republicans","Senate","Congress","Republican Party","John McCain","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb07bbbe2d945843/6988df2acf40a848fbc4986a/gettyimages-849623716.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Suyin Haynes","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/suyin-haynes/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb07bbbe2d945843/6988df2acf40a848fbc4986a/gettyimages-849623716.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senate Policy Luncheons","caption":"Senate Policy Luncheons","creditText":"Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call,Inc./Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/republicans/","name":"republicans"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4955325/donald-trump-john-mccain-affordable-care-act/","name":"John McCain Says His Health Care Vote Wasn’t Personal"}}]}] ```