Meghan McCain Has Made ‘The View’ One of the Craziest Shows on TV

I’ve never cared about The View. The ABC talk show has always been a thing that’s just existed in the same universe as I do. Largely we don’t overlap, and neither of us seem too bothered by this dynamic. But since we seem to be living in the darkest timeline, that was bound to change. I now have an opinion about The View, and it’s all thanks to Meghan McCain.

This is not a compliment to anyone, by the way. This show has become as perversely entertaining as watching a bad American Idol performance. It makes you feel terrible and confused, you don’t know why you’re watching, and yet you still hit play on the next video. That’s because The View has become a daily case study about two women who may or may not hate each other, while Whoopi Goldberg looks on.

At a certain point in the middle of a McCain and Joy Behar feud, it doesn’t even matter what’s being said. All that matter is that they’re screaming their responses. Whoopi will bring up a politically charged topic, like Michelle Wolf’s White House Correspondent’s Dinner or the sexual assault allegations against Donald Trump. You would think that this is where the fighting would start. You would be wrong.

The fun of this rivalry is you never know what will set them off. When it comes to big issues, Joy Behar and Meghan McCain often land on similar or at least respectfully different sides. The duo had a nice bonding moment when they mocked Omarosa, they agreed that Ivanka Trump’s statement on the allegations against her father was lacking, and neither of them are Steve Bannon fans. But when they do disagree, it’s the most insane and petty thing you can watch on daytime TV.

Once a conversation about White House Chief of Staff John Kelly escalated until Behar yelled, “As a Democrat, I am offended by Republicans!” An erroneously reported news story by The View ladies about Michael Flynn prompted McCain to publicly criticize her co-hosts in the middle of hosting The View. But the fights that are most telling are the small ones, like the time Behar and McCain started bickering after Behar sarcastically wished Melania Trump a happy birthday. It’s one thing to disagree with someone, but when you really hate someone it’s the petty stuff you can’t let go.

Obviously, I have no way of knowing if Behar and McCain really do dislike each other. The relationship between the pair was described as reaching “nuclear levels” earlier this year. But of course this can all be part of an elaborate act; this is television after all. What I do know is that McCain seems to be a master at forming decent points that quickly go off the rails, and that she’s infuriated all of her co-hosts on at least one occasion.

I also don’t mean to cast McCain as the bad guy. Though she’s clearly had an instigating presence on the talk show, she’s also raised some good points and has been responsible for some genuinely heart-warming moments. She’s a pretty good and reasonable daytime TV host, but no one comes out of a View fight looking good. And that’s what makes the show so addicting right now.

When McCain and Behar fight, there’s no one you agree with and no one you adamantly disagree with, because both sides are normally a little wrong. There’s just a lot of yelling, gas-lighting, and confusing arguments. It’s like watching the most uncomfortable parts of a Thanksgiving dinner screaming match. But instead of storming away from each other, every angry person returns to the table tomorrow to do it all over again. I don’t know what television hell would look like, but being forced to host a pseudo-political show with someone you kind of hate has to be one of Dante’s circles.

Some degree of this vitriol has to be fake or at least manufactured by producers. I also feel conflicted being engaged with a show that’s so transparent it could be re-named Women Argue. But then I remember Sunny Hostin being forced to awkwardly transition the show after a Behar and McCain blow up, and I’m sucked back into the chaos. Maybe The View has always been this weird insight into verbal pettiness, but it’s only thanks to Meghan McCain that I’ve started paying attention.

Where to stream The View