Meghan McCain Slams “Identity Politics,” Calls Out ‘The View’ Panel for “Broad Stroking” Republicans as Racists

On Tuesday, The View tackled one of the most prominent political stories of the week, Rep. Steve King’s racist remarks in The New York Times. As happens so often on the ABC talk show, things got heated, and the conversation quickly spiraled into a testy discussion of immigration, racism, and the Republican party. Co-host Meghan McCain got particularly worked up about what she described as “identity politics,” and she slammed her fellow panelists for “broad stroking” all Republicans as racists. The comment spurred a mass freakout on the panel, with McCain, Sunny Hostin, and Abby Huntsman screaming over each other to get their point across. The View gon’ View.

The “Hot Topics” segment began relatively calmly. After introducing the controversy surrounding King — after his comments surfaced, he was stripped of his committee assignments and denounced by many prominent Republicans — the panel seemed to agree that King’s racist comments don’t belong in Congress. McCain, a strong conservative voice on the panel, condemned King and said that “he should step down,” which earned her a large round of applause from the audience and nods from her fellow panelists.

Hostin then steered the conversation towards U.S. immigration policy and President Trump’s obsession with the border wall. “Republicans now, with [King], I think could make such a significant statement by forcing him to resign,” said Hostin. “But will Republicans now step up to the plate with Donald Trump? Because he has been using, I think, the border wall as this dogwhistle for racism.” Huntsman, another conservative voice on The View, fired back, asking if the “42 percent” of Americans who support the wall are “all racist.” Replied Hostin, “I don’t know, is Donald Trump racist?”

That didn’t sit well with McCain. “I think this is the problem with identity politics in the country,” she said. “When you broad stroke 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 that would like to pull ourselves out of it. So let’s focus on Steve King.” McCain went on to say that she’s made it “explicitly clear” how she feels about Trump, so it’s not fair to portray her as “racist.” She continued, “When we broad stroke everyone — I would like our show, and I’ve said this many times, to be above that. To be above broad stroking people into different pockets that they’re in.”

McCain’s remarks set off the panel: each woman began yelling over the other to speak her mind. The bickering continued until McCain slammed her hand down on the table, yelling, “I am John McCain’s daughter! I am not someone who sits here and is okay with racism in any way whatsoever.” McCain’s outburst stunned the panel, and the silence finally gave Whoopi Goldberg a chance to throw The View to commercial. I’m sure everyone was very appreciative.

Watch McCain tear into her co-hosts in the clip above.

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