In the final months of his life, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) retreated to his ranch near Sedona, Arizona. There, “only his closest friends and people we trusted” were allowed to visit, writes his widow, Cindy McCain, in her new memoir, People reports.

President Joe Biden and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), both longtime family friends, and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) were among those who visited. Others, including, former President George W. Bush and former Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) called.

One person that McCain didn’t hear from, Cindy noted, was former Alaska governor Sarah Palin (R), who served as his 2008 running mate during the presidential election. That silence, she writes in her memoir Stronger, due to be released next week, led to Palin’s being excluded from his memorial services after his passing in August 2018.

“In the fourteen months that John had been sick, she never once spoke to him,” McCain writes. “He had put her on the political map, and she didn’t even send him a note of good wishes when he was down. That is not someone you invite to a final farewell.”

In an interview with People, McCain notes that John’s final weeks were filled with people he loved.

“There were so many opportunities for people to come, and I made sure that people could because I wanted to keep him engaged,” she noted.

But she was saddened by Palin’s seeming inconsiderateness.

“I was just very disappointed in what Mrs. Palin did because I just felt that… I had hoped that she had felt my husband was as loved as I did,” McCain said. “And I was just very disappointed. I think I was more disappointed than John.”

One source for Palin provided People with an email exchange between Palin and John and Cindy’s daughter Meghan McCain in which Palin wrote “Please know we’re praying for you, your mom, your brothers, sister … please give the Senator a big hug from us.”

Meghan responded, “Thank you so much for this kind note. … I will make sure to pass on your prayers and good wishes.” The Palin source also told people Palin attempted to arrange a visit with the senator in Arizona but was rebuffed.

There was, understandably, one notable person who was NOT invited to visit. Then-President Donald Trump, who regularly insulted McCain was conspicuously absent, although Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner attended the senator’s funeral in Washington D.C.

Cindy McCain is philosophical about the experience.

“John always taught me that it takes more energy to be mad than to simply move on,” she writes in her memoir. “I don’t know exactly why Ivanka and Jared wanted to be there. But I am hoping they came for the reason I would think — that they mourned the loss of my husband.”

It’s not clear why the couple attended the funeral, but their appearance angered Meghan McCain and in an appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, she told the comedian that she didn’t want anyone from Trump’s family at her father’s funeral.

“I was surprised when they were there, and it made me uncomfortable, and I hope I made them uncomfortable,” she told Colbert at the time.

I don’t really understand why these two went to the funeral either, but perhaps Ivanka was trying to make nice in the public eye. Too bad her father never learned how to do things like this.