Meghan McCain Blasts AOC as the “Shrewdest Politician” in America on ‘The View’: “It’s Pretty Depressing”

Meghan McCain tore into Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on The View today during hot topics, discussing her recent call for Joe Biden to stop reaching across the aisle. The co-hosts discussed a recent tweet from the representative, which called for Democrats to reckon with bipartisanship and their relationship with the Republican Party.

“Pres. Biden & Senate Dems should take a step back and ask themselves if playing patty-cake w GOP Senators is really worth the dismantling of people’s voting rights, setting the planet on fire, allowing massive corporations and the wealthy not to pay their fair share of taxes, etc,” AOC wrote on Wednesday (June 9).

After bringing the tweet to the table for discussion, anchor Whoopi Goldberg tossed the topic to McCain. Goldberg asked the co-host what it would take to “actually get both sides to work together,” or if it even could be done.

“I don’t know, man. It’s pretty depressing,” McCain said. “I don’t live like this. I don’t think this is the way the American government was intended to be designed. I think there is fault in all places.

McCain has a complex relationship with AOC on The View: last year, the co-host grilled AOC on socialism when she visited as a guest, telling the representative it was “like the apocalypse.” But McCain has also defended AOC in the past on matters like sexism and immigration.

“I think AOC is one of the shrewdest politicians in America right now,” McCain continued. “She’s not just some innocent fawn in the woods that’s ‘stating the facts.’ She’s going after people in her own party like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema — who, by the way, are people who have put their money where their mouth is and are working with the other side.”

The co-host continued, praising Manchin and Sinema for “trying to get things done in a bipartisan way. I think that’s the spirit of America. That’s the America I want to live in.”

McCain concluded by shifting gears back to focus on President Biden and his role in bipartisanship, arguing that he should still reach across the aisle even if AOC suggests he shouldn’t.

“I don’t think when Joe Biden became elected president to ‘heal the soul of the Nation and be a president of all Americans’ it meant ‘screw Republicans forever, now I’m in power,'” McCain concluded. “If that’s the message going forward, I just don’t know how you maintain it because it’s not a good-faith argument.”

Fellow co-host Joy Behar was next to comment on AOC’s tweet, pushing back against McCain’s statements against the congresswoman. She referenced the tweet’s calls to end climate change and to uphold voter rights, saying those two rights were important to her.

“For the Republicans to block any kind of legislation in those two areas I think is a major dereliction of duty, including Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema,” Behar said. “I feel like we’re in another Groundhog Day with Mitch McConnell, who keeps saying no every time people want him to say yes to helping the American people. So, yes, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is correct.”

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