In just a few minutes on Tuesday morning, The View managed to go from calm agreement about the overt racism of Rep. Steve King (R-IA) to a shouting match that culminated in Meghan McCain screaming, “I’m John McCain’s daughter, I am not someone who sits here and is OK with racism in any way whatsoever.”
Earlier in the show’s opening segment, the hosts all seemed to be on the same page, with McCain declaring of King, “I condemn him, he should step down, he’s a racist and he’s bad for the party,” adding: “It’s not hard.”
But things took a sharp turn when co-host Sunny Hostin asked whether Republicans in Congress will take the “moral high ground”—like Democrats did with Sen. Al Franken—and force King to resign.
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From there, she asked if they would then “step up to the plate with Donald Trump” on his border wall, which she said the president has been using as a “dog whistle for racism.”
“But Sunny, there’s 42 percent of this country that supports the wall,” Abby Huntsman replied. “Are they all racist?”
All she could really say in response was, “That’s a good question. I don’t know, is Donald Trump racist?”
Joy Behar chimed in with “Duh,” but Huntsman wouldn’t touch that one. Ultimately, both she and McCain pushed back on the idea of suggesting that those who want a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border are in the same “racist” ballpark as Steve King.
“I think this is the problem with identity politics,” McCain said. “When you broadstroke everyone—all black people think one thing, all Hispanic people think one thing, all Republicans think one thing—that’s how we got ourselves into this mess and I’m one of the people who would like to pull ourselves out of it.”
“Please don’t paint me, just because I’m for border security I’m somehow racist in some way,” she added. “I’m against the wall, let that be said, but I’m for strong border security.”
As she has had to do time and again, Whoopi Goldberg stepped in to break up the fight between Behar and McCain who kept talking over each other.
“You did just call 42 percent of the country—there was an implication that they could be racist—which is something, obviously when you’re talking about Republicans in general, that is obviously something that is going to make Abby and I uncomfortable,” McCain told Behar.
By the time she started hitting the table and shouting about being “John McCain’s daughter,” Behar was clearly taken aback, muttering, “Oh my god” under her breath.
Referencing her own truck-driver father, Behar shot back with a smile, “And I am Gino Occhiuto’s daughter and I say he’s a racist!”
