The View has been hyping the triumphant return of Meghan McCain for weeks. And in her first show back since taking off for maternity leave shortly before the 2020 election, she did not disappoint.
Following an opening segment during which McCain expressed her sudden passion for paid parental leave after giving birth last fall—while implying that it should only apply to women—the hosts turned to the biggest “hot topic” of the day: President Donald Trump’s phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Joy Behar said that her first thought after hearing the call, in which Trump threatened Raffensperger with criminal charges if he didn’t “find” the votes to overturn the election results in Georgia, was “get the straitjacket.” McCain, of course, had a different take.
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“I’m not surprised just because he argues every single thing that’s ever happened,” McCain said. “He’s the only man that can become president that’s angry about it afterwards. So I’m not surprised, but I will say he doesn’t sound that different than a lot of Republicans I know.”
Later, after Behar called it “treasonous” and Sunny Hostin said Trump is “trying to stage a coup,” McCain pushed back.
“I don’t think he’s trying to stage a coup,” she declared. “I think he’s ranting and pissed off that he’s irrelevant right now and Biden’s about to take his seat in office. I think people are taking this way too far, he’s a moron.”
But the real fireworks came during the following segment when McCain went at it with her co-hosts for suggesting that the American people should take the president’s attempts to upend democracy seriously.
“We can’t just say, this is an enraged guy, this is just somebody who is unhinged,” Hostin said, addressing McCain directly. “This is someone who knows that what he is asking for is illegal, yet he continues to ask for it. I think that says that this is an intentional act, that this is a criminal, intentional act to steal an election. It’s a coup.”
McCain, in turn, called that rhetoric “dangerous” and added, “There’s not going to be martial law and things like that just scare people.” Speaking to Behar, she said that “the media needs to be more respectful” of the 70 million Trump voters.
“I know people that quietly voted for Trump, that didn’t want to be shamed, that don’t want to be yelled at, that don't want to be called racist,” McCain said, arguing that the election should not have been as “close” as it was.
“Biden won by eight million votes, Meghan, that’s not close!” Behar shot back. “That’s a lot of people.”
“But Joy, if you are so comfortable, then why is everyone so hysterical about what’s happening in Georgia?”
From there, as has happened many times in the past, the conversation devolved into a shoutfest that moderator Whoopi Goldberg was forced to break up by going to commercial. “We’ll be right back,” she said. “I’m not playing with that.”
It was a hot mess—and exactly what The View has been missing over the last three months.
