The backdrop was full of red and white polka-dot hearts, but there was no love on display Friday morning between The View co-hosts Joy Behar and Meghan McCain.
What was supposed to be a light-hearted opening segment about the bizarre Twitter feud between President Donald Trump and 2020 hopeful Mike Bloomberg, began to fly off the rails when McCain joked that instead of saying “Happy Valentine’s Day” to her husband this morning, she woke up and asked him, “Does Bloomberg really think it’s going to be this easy?”
“Michael Bloomberg, when he was our mayor for three terms, I always knew to be a sort of calm, above-it-all politician, doesn’t get in the mud,” she said. “So this new version of him, it’ll be interesting to see how this works, this like, thug, white guy, ‘Yo mama’ thing.’”
As McCain questioned his ability to win over Democratic voters who so far have favored Bernie Sanders, Behar defended his credentials. “Listen, I’m not shilling for Mayor Bloomberg here,” she said.
“You kind of are,” McCain said, interrupting her.
“I like him fine,” Behar replied. “I like Biden too. I like all of them, I told you, I’ll vote for any of them, I’ll vote for Pee-wee Herman!”
McCain laughed at that line, but she then grew visibly angry when the conversation turned to Bloomberg’s record on racial issues. “Why are we so strict on Democrats and so lenient with Republicans, who have the most racist policies and the most racist track record?” she asked. “This is a racist country, right? Every single one of [the Democrats] has something in their background that doesn’t look good for race.”
This set McCain off, who argued that in addition to winning over black voters, Bloomberg would have to get midwestern Trump voters on his side as well. “And I’m sorry, a guy that wants to take away your Slurpee is gonna have a real problem in coal-mining towns!” she exclaimed.
“And you know what? A guy who wants to take away your health care is in even worse shape!” Behar shot back.
“You know what, Joy? I’ve been right about election stuff and you’ve been wrong,” McCain shouted at her. “Trust me on this.” When Behar asked how she’s been wrong, McCain told her, “You thought Trump was going to lose in 2016 and I didn’t.” As Behar noted that Trump “did actually lose” the popular vote, McCain asked, “Does that make you feel good at night? He’s in the White House! It’s a ridiculous thing to say every single day of this show. He’s president. Move on!”
After McCain accused Behar of trying to make herself “feel better,” the moderator replied, “I don’t want to make myself feel better, I want him out!”