Meghan McCain Cries During a Discussion of Anti-Semitism on ‘The View’

Just as the Democratic party is battling over anti-Semitism, so are the women of The View. On Thursday, The View devoted 10 full minutes to a discussion of Rep. Ilhan Omar, who has come under fire from politicians on both sides of the aisle for her comments about Israel. As so often happens, the conversation quickly devolved into chaos as co-hosts Sunny Hostin and Meghan McCain tried to speak over each other, with each presenting (actually, “presenting” is a generous term for what they were doing) an opposing point of view on the issue. After much back and forth about whether Omar’s comments serve as a “dog whistle,” McCain began to cry, saying that even though she doesn’t “have Jewish family” and is not Jewish, Omar’s comments are “very scary” to her.

Co-host Joy Behar introduced the debate at the top of the show, saying, “The Democrats finally get some power back, and what do they do? They start a civil war in their party.” After breaking down the controversy — Republicans and prominent Democrats believe Omar’s comments about Israel are “anti-Semitic,” while freshman congressmen including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Rashida Tlaib have stepped in to support Omar — Behar said that the entire situation is “very annoying and scary,” as “there are so many other things to fight about right now.”

Conservative firebrand McCain then chimed in, saying that “this issue is a really intense one” for her. “First and foremost, anti-Semitism shouldn’t be a right or left issue,” she said, adding that people on both sides should be able to call out “dog whistle moments,” which is what she “believe[s] Ilhan Omar is doing.” She went on to question how Americans — as well as her fellow The View co-hosts — would react if “what Omar has been saying for the last few weeks were said by a white, Republican male.”

Sunny Hostin then read Omar’s most recent comment, in which she questioned “the political influence in this country that says it is okay for people to push allegiance to a foreign country.” Hostin said that she doesn’t believe that statement is anti-Semitic, but she does think that “Republicans are trying to use this as a wedge issue” to divide Americans. McCain immediately interrupted: “I’m really not,” she said, attempting to speak over her co-host. McCain continued to try to butt in as Hostin spoke about Republicans’ “selective outrage,” but she was unsuccessful, and she spent the remainder of Hostin’s time shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

When Hostin concluded, McCain was fired up. “Are you comfortable with me speaking now? Are we comfortable with me rebutting now?” she said. “These are dog whistle comments for Jewish Americans,” said McCain, citing Omar’s comments about “the Benjamins” and Israel “hypnotizing the world.” She went on to say that she “take[s] this issue very personally” as an Israel supporter, and then started to get emotional.

“I don’t have family that is Jewish, but Joe Lieberman and Hadassah Lieberman are my family,” she said through tears. “And I take the hate crimes rising in this country incredibly seriously. And I think what’s happening in Europe is really scary.” McCain apologized for “getting emotional” and continued. “I was very nervous to talk about this on the show because I thought it would become politicized, and it really shouldn’t be. On both sides, it should be called out. And just because I don’t technically have Jewish family that are blood related to me does not mean I don’t take this as seriously.” Now full-on crying, she added, “What Ilhan Omar is saying is very scary to me, and it’s very scary to a lot of people. And I don’t think you have to be Jewish to recognize that.”

Watch The View‘s discussion of anti-Semitism in the clip above.

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