The View’s Meghan McCain derailed a discussion on GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s recent comparison of a House mask mandate to the Holocaust on Monday by demanding the show instead talk about Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar’s supposedly “insidious” antisemitism—equating pro-Palestinian activism with anti-Jewish hate.
During an interview on a right-wing podcast last week, Greene attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for asking GOP House members to prove they’ve been vaccinated before dropping the chamber’s mask mandate.
“You know, we can look back at a time in history where people were told to wear a gold star, and they were definitely treated like second-class citizens, so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany,” the far-right congresswoman declared. “And this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about.”
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The QAnon-curious lawmaker’s remarks sparked intense backlash, including from some Republicans. At the same time, House Republican leadership has remained silent—naturally. Asked why Greene hasn’t faced any repercussions for her latest inflammatory comments, McCain immediately changed the subject.
“She has been stripped of her committees; she has absolutely no legislative power in Congress whatsoever,” she asserted during Monday’s broadcast. “It should juxtapose when Rep. Ilhan Omar said that Jewish people had hypnotized the world and it was ‘all about the Benjamins.’ She is still on the Foreign Relations Committee and is still able to dictate foreign policy in the United States of America.”
McCain was referencing a handful of tweets for which Omar was widely condemned and criticized in 2019; tweets that McCain cried on-air over because they were “scary” and she took them “personally” because she has Jewish friends.
At the time, Omar—one of only two Muslim women in Congress—apologized “unequivocally,” adding that “Anti-Semitism is real” and she was thankful to “Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes.” Congress, however, never directly censured Omar over her remarks, instead passing two general measures condemning antisemitism.
The conservative View host went on to highlight the recent spate of antisemitic attacks around the world in the wake of the violent conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, seemingly placing the blame squarely on the shoulders of the political left. And she also suggested a media conspiracy was afoot to protect Omar and her progressive colleagues.
“I would love if the energy was putting on one crazy woman in Congress—if she is the face of the Republicans, then the Squad is the face of the Democrats—I would love Democrats to put that same type of energy into what’s happening on the left,” she exclaimed. “Quite frankly, this is how people get red-pilled. The media doesn’t want the Squad to look bad. They just want Marjorie Taylor to look bad. Antisemitism is a huge problem everywhere.”
At this point, host Whoopi Goldberg had to throw the segment to a commercial break, prompting McCain to blow up as she felt she was being silenced.
“Why are you cutting me off?” McCain shouted.
“I'm cutting you off because we have to go, Meghan! Why do you think I’m cutting you off?” Goldberg retorted as they faded off-screen.
After the break, the tension was still high. And this time, McCain’s longtime sparring partner Joy Behar was roped into the action.
In finishing her commentary, McCain said that while antisemitism of the right was easy to spot because it manifests itself in the form of “crazy people and tiki torches,” the left’s version of anti-Jewish hate is “a lot more insidious and a lot more sinister.” And then she directly equated pro-Palestinian sentiments to antisemitism.
“It matters who can make legislation,” she said. “And if you are for BDS and you are anti-Israel in the way that [Omar] is, it makes real power to make legislative change like we’ve seen this past week with ‘The Squad’!”
McCain further complained that the media has not done an adequate job calling out anti-Jewish hate crimes, resulting in a barb from Behar.
“I’ve been talking about antisemitism for 25 freaking years,” the liberal co-host yelled. “Don’t tell me what I’m supposed to be saying, Meghan. You do your thing and we do ours.”
“I know you’ve been here 25 years," McCain huffed in response. "I’ve been here for four.”
“That’s right. You should have some respect for that,” Behar shot back.
