Joy Behar had “all sorts of feelings” to share about the inauguration of President Joe Biden on The View Wednesday morning, including the sense that an air conditioner could have fallen on the heads of the collective heads of American people, but then it didn’t. “That’s how I felt yesterday,” she said.
But it was Behar’s comments about one of the inauguration attendees that set off her co-host Meghan McCain.
“The other thing I want to know is, how did Ted Cruz ever get in there?” Behar asked. “Did he come in underneath Lady Gaga’s skirt? These are the questions I have today. What was he doing there? Why are these enemies there?”
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When it was McCain’s turn to speak, she briefly praised Biden’s calls for unity before predictably defending Sen. Cruz from Behar’s attacks. “The flip side of this is that there are 74 million Americans who didn’t vote for him,” she said. “I believe Joe Biden. I don’t know if I believe the rest of the Democratic coalition. I just listened to Joy call Ted Cruz an ‘enemy’ and ask why he was even present at the inauguration. If the rest of the Democratic Party and the left want to act like all Republicans and all factions in this country are the enemy, I have trepidation going forward on just how much hope I have for us coming together.”
“I don’t want to be considered an enemy of the people,” McCain added, despite nobody making that claim about her, “because I’m still a Republican, I’m still a conservative, I disagree with policies he’s already invoking in the executive orders he did last night.” While she hopes Republicans give Biden a “chance,” she also said, “I hope the Democrats stop referring to us as enemies. We have to work together and live together and coexist together whether we like it or not.”
In response, Behar reminded McCain that Cruz “was one of the people who encouraged the insurrection on the Capitol.” And for that, she said, “I consider him an enemy.”
“I don’t necessarily consider Mitch McConnell an enemy, even though I think he’s a political enemy,” she continued. “I think that Cruz and Hawley are enemies of this country, that they are encouraging insurrections, violence, people died at the Capitol. Yes, Ted Cruz is an enemy right now, of this country, I don’t take it back.”
Before Whoopi Goldberg could go to a commercial, McCain shot back that until Cruz and Hawley are “no longer senators,” they have “every right to sit in the inauguration as everyone else does.”
“Someday, I’d love to get the last word!” Behar replied with a laugh.
