Meghan McCain: I Didn’t ‘Literally’ Mean Democrats Should Shoot Trump—It Was ‘Metaphorical’

Meghan McCain found herself in a precarious situation during Friday’s broadcast of The View when she went a bit too far with a metaphor about impeachment, prompting her and the rest of the crew to quickly walk back her comments.

Discussing President Trump recently declaring that impeachment is a “dirty, filthy, disgusting word” as pressure ramps up in the wake of Robert Mueller’s public comments, McCain noted that House Democrats are still being careful as the public hasn’t embraced the idea yet.

“What’s interesting is that only 45 House members are for impeachment proceedings, which actually surprised me,” she said. “It’s only 20 percent of House Democrats. Ten percent of the entire House and I do think, I agree with you, that Nancy Pelosi is an incredibly shrewd politician. Sixty-five percent of Americans say Congress should not begin proceedings at the moment.”

The conservative host then stated Democrats need to make sure they don’t miss if they go down the impeachment path—using a rather graphic analogy.

“I will say if you take this kill shot, Democrats, you better not miss,” McCain declared. “You better hit his jugular. If there is a finger still moving at the end of it, you will ruin your chances in 2020 but you better do this well if you’re going to do it.”

Almost immediately, co-host Whoopi Goldberg interjected, letting viewers know that McCain “doesn’t mean” that Democrats need to actually shoot the president.

“I don’t mean literally!” McCain exclaimed. “I’m so sorry!”

She continued: “Oh my God! I mean like a metaphorical. I’m a hunter and shooter, I’m sorry about my metaphors. And I talk like a redneck, so sorry.”

Liberal co-host and frequent McCain sparring partner Joy Behar stepped in to provide a better metaphor, telling the former Fox News personality to say “if you’re going to swing, you better hit the ball.”

“Thank you, Joy, for giving a better metaphor,” an appreciative McCain responded. Thank you very much!”

Goldberg, meanwhile, ended the segment by offering additional cover to McCain while claiming the panel’s comments are constantly dissected and parsed.

“So here’s the thing, people come after us for what we say and how we say it because they’re listening for something to be wrong in their mind,” she asserted. “We try not to do that so we look out for each other because we know because we all see what people write to us.”

“I appreciated it,” McCain concluded. “Live TV. Sorry.”