Does Meghan McCain still support Josh Hawley? ‘The View’ host calls Trump 'mad king' after violence at Capitol
Meghan McCain is arguably the least popular among the co-hosts of the ABC daytime talk show, ‘The View’. It’s been barely a week since she has returned to the show after maternity leave and already, people are unhappy with her presence -- and that includes her co-hosts.
On Monday, her first day back, McCain and Joy Behar got into a shouting match about the damning audio, released Sunday by the Washington Post, of Trump asking Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes”. During that row, McCain made an excuse for Trump and said, “I don’t think he’s trying to stage a coup. He’s ranting and he’s pissed off because he’s irrelevant right now and Biden’s about to take his seat in the office. I think people are taking this way too seriously right now.” On Tuesday, Behar declared during a heated exchange, after McCain cut her off mid-sentence, that she "did not miss" her during her absence from the show.
On Wednesday, the hosts were interviewing Senator-elect Raphael Warnock who had won a seat in the Georgia run-off elections. When a visibly-displeased McCain continued to grill the first Black Georgia senator near the end of the segment, Whoopi Goldberg shut her down. Goldberg first tried and failed to politely cut her off before sternly shouting, “Hey! Listen! We are going to say thanks to the Senator-elect Reverend Raphael Warnock.” As they cut to commercial, Goldberg could be seen shaking her head.
But at long last, it would seem that McCain and the others have found common ground, and it took a violent mob breaching the Capitol building in Washington DC to reach there. On Wednesday, around 1 p.m. ET, a mob of Trump supporters, part of the “Stop the Steal” rally, broke past the barricades and barged into the Capitol building. It was seemingly their last-ditch effort to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory -- they created chaos to stop lawmakers gathering to certify Biden’s electoral win.
The videos and photos of these men -- which many have dubbed a coup -- vandalizing the building, including Nancy Pelosi’s office, it seemed, was enough to push McCain over the edge. McCain is usually an anti-Trump conservative. Last year, she said to Trump, “It kills you that no one will ever love you or remember you like they loved and remember [John McCain]. He served his country with honor, you have disgraced the office of the presidency.” But that has not stopped her from on several occasions defending him, the most recent of which happened Monday.
Still, the incident on Wednesday elicited arguably the most anti-Trump sentiments from McCain anyone has seen off late. She called for removing Trump through the 25th Amendment, calling her fellow Republican, a “mad king” and saying the rioters were “scum of the earth” who were “bastardizing all that I love and have grown up with.”
McCain said, “Yesterday when I was watching the footage, these bastards were using the American flag as symbols as they are attacking our own republic, the same flag that our veterans at Iwo Jima held. You are not veterans."
She continued, "You are bastardizing all that I love and have grown up with for your own sick agenda, and that agenda has been directly sent by President Trump, and then he didn’t disavow it. He didn’t send in the National Guard, and then he called them ‘special’ and said we loved them."
She concluded with, "Ivanka Trump called these people patriots. I am a patriot. I come from a patriotic family. I come from a family of service. As does everyone on this show. You are hurting our country.”
But many online seemed critical of her stance -- one that she has been taking on social media as well since news of the mob violence broke out. A Twitter user said, “But on Monday she was saying everyone was overreacting to the fear of an attempted coup and that we needed to respected Trump supporters/voters and tweeting support yesterday of Josh Hawley. I’m sorry but Meghan shouldn’t get to weasel her way out of this.” More people pointed out that she was supporting Hawley.
One Twitter user shared photos of McCain showing her support to Hawley in now-deleted tweets, saying, “three hours ago, @MeghanMcCain tweeted support for Josh Hawley for president.”
But on Monday she was saying everyone was overreacting to the fear of an attempted coup and that we needed to respected Trump supporters/voters and tweeting support yesterday of Josh Hawley. I’m sorry but Meghan shouldn’t get to weasel her way out of this.
— Holly Birt (@hollsterbirt) January 7, 2021
three hours ago, @MeghanMcCain tweeted support for josh hawley for president pic.twitter.com/vTL4EklNIf
— auld lang zach (@zschutzy) January 6, 2021
The 40-something Missouri Republican senator is largely to blame for “inspiring one of the most heartbreaking days in modern American history,” according to his home-state newspaper’s editorial board. The scathing editorial, published on Wednesday on the Kansas City Star under the headline ‘Assault on democracy: Sen. Josh Hawley has blood on his hands in Capitol coup attempt’, said: “Hawley’s actions in the last week had such impact that he deserves an impressive share of the blame for the blood that’s been shed.”
Hawley was the first member of his chamber to announce he would join an effort launched by House conservatives to challenge the normally ceremonial process of certifying the electoral vote tally.