Meghan McCain clashes over protests, Trump rally during COVID-19: 'Significant distinction''
Meghan McCain clashed on Tuesday with two of the liberal co-hosts arguing that President Trump's upcoming rally was much worse than mass protests over George Floyd's death.
The debate started with co-host Joy Behar telling Trump supporters that the president didn't care about them or their health because he was willing to invite them to the rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Friday. The Trump campaign has asked supporters to sign a waiver releasing it from liability if they get sick.
"Do you think Chris Cuomo cared about people's health when he moved old people around to nursing homes that were COVID-positive and a lot of people died?" co-host Meghan McCain asked. She was apparently referring to CNN anchor Chris Cuomo's brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has faced a wave of backlash for forcing nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients.
McCain fired back by mentioning HDT host Janice Dean, who claims Cuomo's policy cost her in-laws their lives. She added that "there's a lot of hypocrisy to go around here and this is one of the issues that I'm really enraged about."
@MeghanMcCain: “The messaging is very confusing… Is it only a pandemic if you are a conservative and you’re a Trump supporter… and you’re a hypocrite if you sign this waiver and go into his rally but you’re not a hypocrite if you protest someplace else? It’s very confusing.” pic.twitter.com/32UilTWala— Heidi Heitkamp (@HeitkampHeidi) June 17, 2020
"I don't think anyone should be in giant rallies right now because we've been told by medical experts it's not safe, but the message from the media is as long as you are protesting something or going to a rally that is of the right politics, you can do it and we're going to ignore the spread of COVID. So, going to a Trump rally is somehow much more danger than going to a rally in Brooklyn over the weekend," she said.
McCain warned that people were getting angry over the apparent double standard applied to protesters and everyone else.
"Is COVID a pandemic -- that we all have to stay sheltering and inside -- or is it not, or is it only a pandemic if you are a conservative and you're a Trump supporter and then you have to stay inside and you're a hypocrite if you sign this waiver and you go into his rally, but you're not a hypocrite if you go protest someplace else? It's very confusing."
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg argued that people shouldn't be participating in either Trump rallies or ongoing protests. But Behar and co-host Sunny Hostin were more defensive, claiming that Trump's rally was worse because it was indoors and the president was actively inviting people to the event.
"The what about-ism is irrelevant to me right now. Nobody in the Cuomo administration has asked anybody to sign a waiver so that they can't be sued. It's a whole different ball game that we're talking about here," Behar said.
McCain countered that while she was no Trump fan, Behar made her defend him when she claimed that the president wants people to die. "I don't understand some of the mixed messaging that's happening," she said.
Behar went back to blaming Trump, creating a back and forth that extended until the commercial break.
"This is an American problem. This is a problem that is bipartisan. It is not just a Trump administration problem, Joy," McCain said. When Behar disagreed, McCain suggested her argument was "ridiculous."
When "The View" returned, Behar claimed that protesters should be wearing masks, but that the Trump rally was "ten times worse and much more dangerous" because it was indoors.
"It's completely different," she added. Hostin added that there was a "significant distinction" between Trump inviting people to the rallies and protesters choosing on their own to attend protests.
"It just seems to me that, when you yourself make the decision to go outside and protest, and exercise your constitutional right to protest injustice like we've seen the murder of unarmed black men, that is one thing," she said.
"But when you have the administration that, the vice president in particular, who is responsible for the coronavirus task force -- inviting people to an indoor event, and the data shows that the indoor events are, people are more susceptible to catching the virus. I think that that is a significant distinction because one is someone choosing to go outside. One is the administration inviting people -- inviting 60,000 people or more to an indoor arena knowing the risk and then lying about the risk, and minimizing that risk. So, there isn't to me a mixed message here."
Meghan McCain and Joy Behar Are Feuding Again on ‘The View’: “You Make Me Defend” Trump!
ReplyDeleteMeghan McCain and Joy Behar‘s feud has reared its ugly head yet again. On Tuesday morning, The View co-hosts got into it during a discussion about President Trump’s upcoming Oklahoma rally. When Behar insisted that the president doesn’t care about his supporters’ health, McCain blew up, and she ripped the “hypocrisy” of the media for suggesting that attending a Trump rally amid the pandemic is dangerous, but attending a Black Lives Matter protest is not. “Is it only a pandemic if you are a conservative and you’re a Trump supporter?” asked McCain.
This morning, the women of The View tackled the big news story of the week: Trump’s Tulsa, Oklahoma rally this coming Saturday, June 20. The event will be Trump’s first rally since the coronavirus pandemic first spread across the United States in March, and the president is requiring attendees to sign a waiver that they bear all responsibility should they catch COVID-19.
Behar was quick to slam Trump for suddenly acknowledging the reality of coronavirus after months of dismissal. “He didn’t believe in science, but now that it comes to his pocketbook, he believes in science all of the sudden?” she said. “Here’s a note to Trump supporters: he doesn’t care about you! He doesn’t care about your health or your children’s health! He only cares that you come and supply kudos to his massive ego.”
McCain pushed back immediately, noting that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo proved he doesn’t care “about people’s health when he moved people around to nursing homes that were Covid-positive” in March and April. “There’s a lot of hypocrisy to go around here,” said the conservative co-host. She added that she’s particularly “enraged” that Behar and other members of the media seem to believe that as long as you’re protesting with “the right politics, you can” attend large events. “Going to a Trump rally is somehow much more dangerous than going to a rally in Brooklyn?” she said. “We have to be consistent on this … We can laugh all we want on here, but this is the most angry I’ve seen a lot of people I know in the center and on the right. The messaging is very confusing.”
Longtime moderator Whoopi Goldberg attempted to avert a potential fight, but Behar (and some kind of technical issue) cut her off. “The what about-ism is irrelevant to me,” Behar told McCain. “Nobody in the Cuomo administration has asked anybody to sign a waiver so that they can’t be sued! It’s a whole different ballgame.”
“All politicians have public health at the forefront [of their platforms],” fired back McCain. She insisted that she’s obviously not a fan of Trump, but Behar says “something incendiary” about his priorities, she’s forced to step in. “You make me defend him when you say things like, ‘He wants people to die!'” ripped the co-host. “Let’s just be careful with our rhetoric right now. This is already a heightened time, and it’s already dangerous.”
“I have been in quarantine just like everyone else for the past three and a half months,” McCain continued. “I still can’t buy a crib for my child in person! … It’s confusing; it’s frustrating. I want to be responsible. I want people to be safe. I do not want people to get sick, of course. But I do not understand the mixed messaging that’s happening, and there’s a lot of Americans right now who are on the same page as I am.”
Once again, Goldberg tried to step in by throwing the show to commercial, but Behar wouldn’t have it. “Listen! He fired the pandemic team!” she yelled over her co-host. “If he hadn’t been so incompetent, we’d be out of this!”
“This is an American problem,” replied McCain. “It is a problem that is bipartisan. It is not just a Trump administration, Joy.” When Behar said that she vehemently disagrees, McCain told her she was being “ridiculous.”
“Yes, it’s just a Republican problem, Joy!” yelled McCain. “Yes.” Well, at least they’re consistent.
Meghan McCain 'enraged' over 'hypocrisy' of protests, Trump rallies happening in the face of coronavirus pandemic
ReplyDeleteOn Tuesday’s episode of The View, Meghan McCain called out what she sees to be a double standard when it comes to two current hot-button issues: While President Donald Trump has been criticized for holding an upcoming rally in the midst of a pandemic, says McCain, those participating in nationwide protests haven’t been subject to the same criticism.
“There’s a lot of hypocrisy to go around,” said McCain, “and this is one of the issues that I’m really enraged about.”
While McCain made it clear that she thinks all large public gatherings are dangerous during this time, she made the point that Trump rally-goers are being treated differently than the protestors.
“Is COVID a pandemic that we all have to stay sheltering in place and inside, or is it not?” she asked. “Or is it only a pandemic if you are a conservative and you’re a Trump supporter and then you have to stay inside, and you’re a hypocrite if you sign this waiver and you go into his rally?”
That waiver she referred to would be the one that the Trump administration is making rally-goers sign before attending, waiving their right to sue if they contract the coronavirus.
The debate between the co-hosts grew testy, with Joy Behar sparring with McCain over Trump’s role in the handling of the pandemic.
“If he hadn’t been so incompetent, we all probably would be out of this by now,” Behar said. McCain replied, saying, “This is an American problem, this is a problem that is bipartisan, this is not just a Trump administration problem.”
And lest you think McCain was sticking up for Trump, she made it clear she was only bringing to light the unbalanced coverage, in her eyes. “I’m no Trump fan, everybody knows that,” she said. “But you make me defend him when you say things like ‘he wants people to die’, ‘he doesn’t care about public health.’”