This is an OZY Special Briefing, an extension of the Presidential Daily Brief. The Special Briefing tells you what you need to know about an important issue, individual or story that is making news. Each one serves up an interesting selection of facts, opinions, images and videos in order to catch you up and vault you ahead. WHAT TO KNOW What happened? After a yearlong battle with brain cancer, U.S. Sen. John McCain passed away on Saturday at the age of 81. The Arizona lawmaker was being treated in his home state after being diagnosed with glioblastoma in July 2017. A former Republican presidential candidate and Navy pilot, McCain became a prisoner of war after his plane was shot down in 1967 at the height of the Vietnam War. As a six-term member of the U.S. Senate, McCain relished his reputation as a political maverick who could work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle in Washington on key issues like campaign finance and foreign policy. Why does it matter? Among other things, McCain’s death leaves a major void in his fractured party. For the past two years, the senator had been a persistent conservative critic of President Donald Trump, including casting the deciding vote against the administration’s first big legislative initiative, the repeal of Obamacare. McCain took several jabs at the president in a final statement issued through an aide this weekend, including arguing that the U.S. is weakened by hiding “behind walls rather than [tearing] them down.” His death also leaves a big seat open in the Senate, one that Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey hopes to fill with a replacement who is conservative enough to please the president and his base but strong enough to win re-election in 2020 in a battleground state. |