The Long List Of Meghan McCain Feuds
Meghan Mccain, also known as John McCain's daughter, is one of the leading Republican pundits on daytime television. As one of the co-hosts The View, McCain is the lone conservative voice on the popular talk show, and sometimes, that makes for some very interesting TV. In Ramin Setoodeh's 2019 book (via USA Today), Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of "The View," McCain calls herself the show's "first real Republican" and insists her popularity does not hinge on her verbal brawls with President Donald Trump. "Young women are different now than when I was younger," she says. "Everyone is involved, civically engaged and informed. I think that's also why the show is doing so well."
The show is doing well, in part, because it's common to see McCain clash with fellow co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, and Sunny Hostin, but her beefs regularly spill outside of the friendly confines of the ABC studios. Grab some freedom fries, sit back, and let's take a look at the long list of Meghan McCain feuds.
Meghan McCain's feud with Donald Trump is all about her dad
Although she agrees with the vast majority of his policy positions and claimed she was "grateful" that Donald Trump was elected, Meghan McCain has a longstanding feud with the 45th president, mostly due to his repeated attacks on her father. It all started during the 2015 Republican primaries, when Trump said: "He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured." It all went downhill from there.
During her eulogy for her father, Meghan seemingly took a swipe at Trump by claiming her father was "American greatness" and blasting the "cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the sacrifice he gave so willingly." She drove her point home by adding, "The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because America was always great."
In March 2019, Trump jumped on Twitter to blame Sen. McCain for the release of the dossier that sparked the Mueller investigation, and the president also took a jab at the late senator for finishing "last in his class" at the U.S. Naval Academy. Meghan then tore into Trump and his "pathetic life" on The View. "He spends his weekend obsessing over great men because he knows it and I know it, and all of you know it, he will never be a great man," she said. "My father was his kryptonite in life. He is his kryptonite in death."
Meghan McCain vs. Alyssa Milano: Feminism Feud
Actress Alyssa Milano is known for having outspoken political views, but her call for women to go on a "sex strike" to protest restrictive abortion legislation drew criticism from both sides of the abortion argument. On an episode of The View, Meghan McCain accused the Who's the Boss? star of engaging in "clicktivism."
"Telling women to use their bodies as a bargaining chip doesn't feel very feminist," she said. "I do think that people like Alyssa Milano need to understand that women aren't just one section of the population that are like her. I always feel like pro-life women are just completely left out of conversations like this in one way or another and it doesn't even occur to her that there are women, like me, who don't have a problem with the bill." Milano has yet to respond to McCain, but maybe they'll run into each other at the next Joe Biden fundraiser.
Seth Meyers and Meghan McCain feuded live on his show
Rep. Ilhan Omar came under fire for comments that critics said "played into anti-Semitic tropes," reported NPR. Meghan McCain counter herself among those blasting the freshmen Congresswoman. On an episode of The View, McCain compared Omar to white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va. and cried as she declared that Omar's words were "very scary to me."
McCain also suggested a connection between Omar "trafficking in anti-Semitic language" and the San Diego synagogue shooting. She also appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers, where the conversation quickly grew contentious. Meyers pointed out that Omar was receiving death threats and suggested that comparing the lawmaker to white supremacists is also dangerous. McCain wasn't hearing it. "I stand by every single thing I've said, and if that makes me unpopular in this room or in front of you, so be it," she said. Meyers replied, "See, that's a weird thing, that you can take the position of trying to be 'unpopular.' Here I am trying to find the common ground on this..."
McCain doubled down, mentioning Omar's controversial tweeting. Meyers responded, "You do keep bringing up the two tweets that she's apologized for, and I think that's a little unfair to her." To that, McCain shot back with: "Are you her publicist?"
John Oliver's feud with Meghan McCain may be just getting started
Shortly after Meghan McCain's appearance on Light Night with Seth Meyers, her husband, Ben Domenech, founder of the far-right website The Federalist, went on a decidedly homophobic (and since-deleted) Twitter rant against Meyers. "I see that @sethmeyers, the untalented piece of s**t who only has his job because he regularly gargled [Saturday Night Live Producer] Lorne Michaels' balls, went after my wife tonight with his idiotic anti-Semitic bulls**t," he said (via the Daily Beast). There was more, but the whole thing ended with Domenech calling Meyers "a monumental a**hole who is utterly unfunny. He deserves the mockery he receives from all the people who laugh at him."
After Domenech's rant, fellow talk show host John Oliver took at swipe at Meghan McCain on Last Week Tonight. While joking about the son of Iceland's ambassador to the UK competing in the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest, Oliver said (via the Daily Beast): "You may be thinking that's the most embarrassing child of a prominent political figure you've ever seen, but let me remind you of the continued existence of Meghan McCain!" He added, "Oh no! Oh no! Oh, I bet her husband is going to get so mad at me now! What on Earth is he going to tweet and then delete? I can't wait to find out!"
At the time of this writing, neither McCain nor Domenech have responded, but we assume Oliver won't be on The View anytime soon.
Denise McAllister's feud with Meghan McCain sparked a meme
"Can someone explain to me the purpose of The View?" conservative writer Denise McAllister tweeted. "It seems to me to be a roundtable of delusional mental midgets ricocheting ignorance and lack of emotional regulation." Meghan McCain fired back with, "you were at my wedding Denise...."
Not only did McCain's response become a meme, but it also caused tension between the two conservative women. "I think the photo on the story made it look like this was personally directed at you, Meghan," McAllister tweeted, in what felt like an attempt to backpedal. "My comment was directed at The View and the mental midgets who surround you. I don't even know how you do it daily and my hat is off to you for standing strong in the midst of crazy."
It's worth noting that McAllister was a regular contributor for The Federalist – the conservative website founded by McCain's husband, Ben Domenech. Soon after the aforementioned Twitter feud involving his wife, McAllister was reportedly fired over what USA Today called a "homephobic Twitter tirade." Did McAllister's issues with McCain also play a role in all this? We may never know.
Kumail Nanjiani's feud with Meghan McCain died pretty quickly
Meghan McCain found herself in another Twitter feud after White House aid Kelly Sadler mocked her father during a private meeting, allegedly saying that Sen. John McCain's views were irrelevant because he was "dying anway."
Comedian and actor Kumail Nanjiani commented on those cold words: "What was said about McCain was vile, but I wish the McCains had been as offended and vocal when vile stuff was said about other people/races/nationalities. Perhaps we wouldn't be in this moment right now," he wrote in a since-deleted tweet (via Entertainment Tonight). When a follower mentioned the time McCain defended Obama against a racist attack during the 2008 presidential campaign, Nanjiani replied: "This is one example. Years ago. He has had many opportunities since then to take a stand, as the rhetoric and actions of his party were turning worse and worse. He also picked Sarah Palin as his running mate & ushered in this era of GOP politics."
Meghan replied by sharing a video of that aforementioned campaign moment, tweeting: "You mean like he did here? I could give you literally thousands of examples of my father speaking up against bigotry of all kinds but this video sums it up pretty concisely. You know nothing about my family or my father Kumail, nothing." Nanjiani then proceeded to bend the knee: "I will just say something I truly believe: if we had more politicians like your father, the world would be a better place."
Was this feud between Amy Klobuchar and Meghan McCain just a misunderstanding?
At a 2019 campaign stop in Arizona, Sen. Amy Klobuchar recalled sitting next to the late John McCain during Trump's inaugural address. "John McCain kept reciting to me names of dictators during that speech because he knew more than any of us what we were facing as a nation," Klobuchar said (via The Huffington Post). "He understood it. He knew because he knew this man more than any of us did." That may seem like a shocking story to tell, particularly to a crowd in Sen. McCain's home state, right? Well, Meghan McCain took offense — big time. "On behalf of the entire McCain family – @amyklobuchar please be respectful to all of us and leave my fathers [sic] legacy and memory out of presidential politics," The View co-host tweeted.
Klobuchar's communications director, Tim Hogan, released a statement to CNN, saying Klobuchar has "deep respect for the McCain family." The statement added, "While she was simply sharing a memory, she continues to believe that the best stories about Senator McCain are not about the views he had about President Trump: they're about McCain's own valor and heroism." Sorry, Klobuchar, it seems only Meghan can namedrop her dad.
Meghan McCain didn't care for Soledad O'Brien's critique
Meghan McCain has several issues with the self-described "Democratic Socialist" Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. McCain decried the "normalization" of socialism on an episode of The View, and claimed the rising star's fight for free health care, free college, and liveable wages makes her "head explode." Guys, McCain was very mad.
Former CNN host Soledad O'Brien tweeted a clip of the episode, calling it a "full on freak out." McCain responded with: "Get a life Soledad — I'm passionate and don't want my grandkids growing up in a socialist nation." Of course, O'Brien wasn't about to let that ride and tweeted this response: "Hi @MeghanMcCain ! I have a (busy!) life — four kids, run a small business, anchor some tv shows, been an award winning journalist for a minute (not to brag) Watch you're [sic] video. You were having a full-fledged freak out. It undermined your argument. You should work on that."
Laura Ingraham carried Ann Coulter's torch in her feud with Meghan McCain
As a writer for the Daily Beast in 2009, Meghan McCain took aim at conservative firebrand Ann Coulter. "I straight up don't understand this woman or her popularity," McCain wrote. "I find her offensive, radical, insulting, and confusing all at the same time. But no matter how much you or I disagree with her, the cult that follows Coulter cannot be denied."
Coulter did not respond, but fellow conservative and Fox News personality Laura Ingraham sure did. Mocking McCain's appearance on The Rachel Maddow Show, Ingraham used a "faux-Valley Girl voice" (via ThinkProgress) and joked that McCain could never be on The Real World because "they don't like plus-sized models." McCain called Ingraham's comments "terrible" (via The Huffington Post). "When Tyra Banks went on her show in a bathing suit and said 'kiss my fat a**,' that's what I feel like. Kiss my fat a**!" she said. Ingraham responded in a since-deleted blog post calling McCain a "useful idiot" and "the flavor of the month in left-wing media land."
Where does this feud stand today? Well, during an interview with Larry King, McCain said, "As far as I'm concerned with what's going on with Laura Ingraham, on my end, it's over."
Want to quickly start a feud with Game of Thrones fans? Meghan McCain knows how.
The morning after the series finale of Game of Thrones, Whoopi Goldberg and the crew kicked off the Hot Topics segment of The View by discussing the hit HBO show. "Anybody having a tough time?" Goldberg asked. Meghan McCain immediately shouted, "Yes!" She then proceeded to spoil the ending for her fellow co-hosts and the audience.
"I spent eight years of my life watching this, and it was a horrible ending. Horrible. Bran is the worst. Sorry, spoiler," she said, before continuing to spoil away. "He didn't do anything, and now he gets to rule? It should have been the mother of dragons." At that point, McCain was seemingly cut off by the audible shock from the room, including co-host Sunny Hostin, who was visibly upset. "Sorry! But it's all over the Internet! I wasn't told I wasn't allowed to say it. I'm sorry, everybody. It's all over the internet. You would've found out one way or another," McCain said.
She could have stopped there, but instead, McCain sarcastically apologized to everyone "triggered" by her spoilers. "You guys are genuinely upset," she said. "Why is this a 'hot topic' then if I'm not supposed to talk about it?" She added, "Apparently, I'm gonna get the wrath of the internet when I leave!" (SPOILER: She did).
Joy Behar is Meghan McCain's most frequent feuding partner
As the lone conservative voice on The View, Meghan McCain regularly goes head-to-head with her co-hosts, but after President Trump claimed to distance himself from the "Send Her Back!" chants directed at Rep. Ilhan Omar during his 2019 North Carolina rally, McCain and fellow co-host Joy Behar got into a heated exchange.
The panel agreed that Trump's rhetoric caused this chant to happen, and McCain called it "blatant racism" and "2016 but on acid," but she appeared to blame Democrats if Trump is elected again in 2020. "Because this is this bad," she said. "This, I do think, is one of those moments much like Charlottesville that will stand in memory, and my answer to Democrats is, if you can't beat this, what are you doing? Because this shouldn't be this hard to beat." McCain then lamented the fact that many "hardcore conservatives" she knows are "very, very, very upset," to which Behar shot back: "I'm so sorry to hear that. Why don't they open their mouths?"
"You know what, Joy? Because some of them are private citizens and friends of mine and don't have the kind of platforms we do!" McCain screamed. "I don't know why this question keeps getting asked! It's obviously about power. I'm sorry, this is not a complicated question," she continued. "Just stop asking me why Republicans are standing by! We know why they are!" As the panel descended into chaos, a visibly frustrated Behar cut to commercial: "We've got to go."