You’ll likely recall the late John McCain’s wife, Cindy McCain, as a very outspoken individual during Donald Trump’s presidency. For example, she took a special interest in Syria and the plight of refugees there along with generally criticizing the former president’s foreign policy moves. Later, she would endorse Joe Biden, claiming principle and a false story from The Atlantic as her reasons.

Following Biden’s inauguration, in what I’m assured was a total coincidence, McCain was then offered an ambassadorship at the United Nations. But while that give and take already reeked of a political payoff, it was what happened after the nomination that really cemented the grift.

When Biden pulled out of Afghanistan in an ill-advised and hap-hazard way, disaster struck. 13 American service members were killed along with hundreds of Afghan civilians, including women and children, by a suicide bomber. We eventually found out the bomber was released by the Taliban from Bagram Air Base, which Biden had inexplicably abandoned before the evacuation was completed.

Past that specific event, though, the situation deteriorated in other ways. Women in general were stripped of the few rights they had. American allies were hunted down and killed. A ruthless, terrorist government formed under the banner of the Taliban. Meanwhile, hundreds of American citizens still remain trapped behind enemy lines, abandoned by the Biden administration.

So what did Cindy McCain have to say about all that, after being so outspoken during the Trump years? The answer is absolutely nothing. In fact, you’d have to go back to May to find any comment on Afghanistan, and that was to express confidence in Biden’s ability to withdrawal properly. Weird, right? It’s almost like her “principles” went out the window in order to protect her position.

Well, mission accomplished. McCain has now been confirmed to her nominated position by a voice vote.

this is what you ignored, cindy. pic.twitter.com/glrB1LEEBc

— kaitlin (@thefactualprep) October 26, 2021

Cindy McCain is now in a political position, appointed by the current president. Any assertions that she’s off-limits for criticism are ludicrous. That she stayed silent on Afghanistan despite her views on foreign policy being at the heart of her past commentary was obviously political. Whether it was wholly selfish or also an attempt to protect Biden himself, I can’t say for sure. But one does not get to claim to exist above politicization and then ignore the worst foreign policy disaster in half a century while still agreeing to serve under the president who caused it.

Either principles matter or they don’t. When those principles cease to exist when it’s politically convenient, they cease to exist at all.