Meghan McCain really doesn’t want to “politicize” the coronavirus.
When President Donald Trump appointed Vice President Mike Pence to lead the containment effort a few weeks ago, she scolded The View audience for applauding the notion that Trump was setting up a “fall guy” for the inevitable catastrophe. “I don’t know why anyone would clap about that because if crap goes wrong, it’s going to be bad for all of us,” she said, adding, “I do not like the politicizing of this.”
Last week, McCain accused “both sides” of politicizing the crisis, but as things continued to get worse, she said “the chickens have finally come home to roost” when it comes to Trump’s mishandling of the pandemic.
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Now that the entire country is in a virtual lockdown, she has had it.
During a discussion about Trump’s response on Monday’s audience-free edition of The View, McCain came out swinging against the president. “The mixed messaging coming out of the White House right now is not only irresponsible, but it's downright dangerous,” she said, pointing the finger in Republican Congressman Devin Nunes’ direction as well after he contradicted medical experts on Sunday by saying now is “great time to go out and go to a local restaurant.”
“Lead by example! And we’re not seeing a lot of profiles in courage coming out of the White House right now,” she added. “It starts at the top, and if you have people saying Jared Kushner is in charge, sorry if I don’t think that's going to handle everything well.”
And yet, despite what McCain’s fellow conservatives on Fox News have been arguing, she made clear that she does not believe criticizing the administration’s response is the same as “politicizing” the crisis.
After ABC News Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton warned against “pointing the finger” at those who are trying to manage the fallout, McCain said, “I don’t like the idea of politicizing it in the sense that it's all Republicans’ fault or all Democrats’ fault. But it’s our job as citizens to call out B.S. when you see it.”
“And when you have people from the administration saying, we don't know if we have enough ventilators, we don't know if our hospitals can handle it,” she continued, “it is more than fair to have righteous indignation as American citizens that I don't believe they are handling it as well as they should be.”
