Meghan McCain had stern words for “The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg after the longtime moderator dared to compare GOP Sen. Mitt Romney to her father, the late Sen. John McCain.
The drama unfolded Thursday as the daytime hosts discussed Romney’s move to break party ranks by voting to convict President Donald Trump for abuse of power at his impeachment trial this week. In an impassioned speech, the Utah senator said it was his faith and oath before God that led him to cast the sole Republican vote against Trump, 73.
The president was ultimately acquitted.
Goldberg noted that while she’s not a fan of Romney or his politics, she admired his moral compass.
“I’m just glad somebody stood up and said ‘no,'” she said, drawing raucous applause from the audience.
Goldberg added that Romney’s maverick streak against the GOP reminded her of another open-minded Republican and said she intended to put her faith in the lawmaker, just as she had with Sen. John McCain.
Meghan, who’s no fan of Romney either and smeared him as a flip-flopper, didn’t take too kindly to the comparison.
“I like when anyone bucks a party,” McCain, 34, began. “I will always respect it, [and] I think it took big cojones to do that yesterday — but it doesn’t take much courage right now to do anything that’s not going to have any impact. President Trump was acquitted yesterday. I just think Mitt Romney, I want to trust him but would he still feel that way if Trump gave him his Secretary of State position?”
She added: “With all due respect, Mitt Romney is nothing like my dad.”
Goldberg gave a thoughtful explanation for linking the two, arguing that Romney deserves the same praise the late senator would’ve received. Not long after his brain cancer diagnosis in 2017, John McCain single-handedly squashed the GOP’s efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
“I don’t agree with Mitt Romney but he stood up in a way that nobody else has, except for your dad,” Goldberg told Meghan.
The conservative pundit hit back and warned Goldberg not to “put all your bets on Romney,” adding: “He’ll break your heart like he always does.”
“I’m 63 years old,” Goldberg continued. “I have been going through this with these people for years.”
McCain, 35, said she thought it was “dismissive” of her colleague to mention age.
“I don’t know what my age has to do with my political perspective right now,” she opined. “I just don’t think it’s very nice.”
They continued going back and forth until co-host Joy Behar played peacemaker with a joke about how much she “hates” Donald Trump.
Loyal “Viewers” chimed in on the debate online, many of them siding with Goldberg and chastising McCain.
“What the nonsense is Megan saying?!” one user commented. “Whoopi is 100 percent right, she is just giving him props and this is why people don’t stand up to their party because when they do people like Meghan put those people down.”
“This is the problem with Meghan McCain. She is not letting Whoopi finish, and then tries to be the victim,” another chimed in. “This is all calculating.”
“Whoopi was trying to say something that probably made a lot of sense, but we’ll never know because Meghan is rude & disrespectful,” someone else wrote.
One critic dared to argue that Romney is “more like John McCain than @MeghanMcCain is.”
Watch more in the video below.
