The View’s Meghan McCain went off on her colleague on Tuesday when frequent sparring partner Joy Behar labeled Republicans the “QAnon Party” over their lack of action towards Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL). The resulting on-air shouting match was broken up by Whoopi Goldberg—natch—even as McCain continued to yell.
Earlier this week, one-time Gaetz wingman Joel Greenberg pleaded guilty to six federal charges, including sex trafficking. Greenberg’s 86-page plea agreement suggests he is cooperating with federal investigators in the central allegation against Gaetz—the sex trafficking of a 17-year-old girl. Greenberg has said in a “confession” letter that both he and the Florida lawmaker had sex with the minor.
With no charges yet filed against Gaetz, House Republicans have largely stayed mum on the swirling scandal around the MAGA congressman. According to Behar, the reason the GOP is “sticking with him” is because the “only sin you can commit” within the party is to acknowledge Joe Biden’s legitimate election victory.
ADVERTISEMENT
“This all adds up to bad news for Gaetz, but he’s out there, you know, having fun, enjoying himself, making jokes about it because he feels like he has cover in the Republican Party,” Behar declared. “Because as I said, they don’t care what you do there as long as you say that [Donald] Trump won the election. Look at what happened to Liz Cheney.”
The liberal co-host went on to note that while Cheney recently lost her House Republican leadership position for refusing to go along with the “Big Lie” that the election was stolen from Trump, the caucus has let Gaetz keep his committee assignments.
McCain, however, wanted the panel to know that she has “family members and good friends” who work on Capitol Hill and that Republicans are “embarrassed by” Gaetz’s situation. At the same time, while she said the “deeply unserious” congressman should be “removed from his committees,” she called for “some people on the left” to be booted due to their comments on Israel.
The conservative host then went on to say her sister-in-law, Emily Domenech, works as an adviser to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, adding that she knows “a lot about what’s going on in Capitol Hill.”
“My question is, if it’s not the Republican Party, shall I call it the ‘QAnon Party’?” Behar fired back. “What should I call your party now who defends people like Matt Gaetz and goes against Liz Cheney?”
McCain retorted that Behar “can call it whatever you want” because her influence within the GOP is “almost zero,” saying it solely up to Republicans to figure it out. Furthermore, McCain added that she doesn’t believe she has any influence with Democrats.
“Yes, but you often on this show give your opinion on what the Democrats should be doing to better themselves,” Behar shot back.
It quickly went downhill from there, with McCain insisting that Republicans really are embarrassed by Gaetz, and Behar wondering aloud why the GOP doesn’t just remove him from committees.
“Because they have to convict him or whatever—I’m not a lawyer,” a flustered McCain insisted. “What is it they have to do—police have to arrest him. I don’t know, um, police have to arrest him and charge him. That’s why he’s still in Congress.”
After Behar invoked Cheney’s ouster once again, McCain claimed that was a “different thing,” eventually prompting a shrugging Behar to snark that Republicans “suddenly need proof.”
“You saying the Republican Party is trash is—I don’t care! It is irrelevant to me! Who cares?” McCain yelled as Goldberg attempted to interject.
“Who cares? You say it every single day! Every single day! Oh my God!” McCain continued yelling over the rest of the panel.
Goldberg, who was attempting to jump in to allow co-host Sunny Hostin to read a legal note, finally said enough is enough—as she has been forced to do many times in the past with McCain.
“OK, we’re going to break. We’re going to break,” Goldberg exclaimed while clapping her hands.
