Meghan McCain: Donald Trump Comments ‘Taking Away My Agency’ To Criticize Ilhan Omar
Meghan McCain, the panelist on The View, made news multiple times earlier this year for her criticism of Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, after comments by the Congresswoman that some denounced as anti-Semitic.
Back in March, per The Inquisitr, McCain became emotional on the TV show while discussing what she described as “scary” comments by the freshman Congresswoman. She invoked her father’s friendship with his fellow former senator, Joseph Lieberman.
Not long afterward, McCain appeared on Late Night With Seth Meyers, and the host challenged her on the Omar comments. This led to a series of vicious tweets directed at Meyers by McCain’s husband, conservative journalist Ben Domenech, although Domenech later apologized, per The Inquisitr.
Now, Omar is once again in the news, following President Donald Trump’s tweets earlier this week in which he implied that Omar and three other Democratic Congresswomen should leave the country. During a Trump rally in North Carolina Wednesday night, the crowd chanted “send her back,” in reference to Omar, per The Inquisitr.
McCain, a frequent critic of President Trump, denounced the tweets and the chants on social media, and addressed the issue on The View Thursday. And she had a surprising reason for her discomfort with the rhetoric.
Per The Daily Beast, McCain said on the show that she was “terrified” by the chants directed at Omar. But then she reminded everyone of how critical she had been of Omar and described herself as “one of Ilhan Omar’s most vocal critics regarding Israel.”
McCain then went on to blame Trump for seeming to take away her ability to criticize Omar herself.
“But the problem right now is, you’re taking away my agency to criticize her policy,” McCain said. “You’re making this about race, xenophobia, racism.”
The statement by McCain left a lot of political observers scratching their heads.
“This is what people think all conservatives are now, and we are not.”@MeghanMcCain spoke out against Sen. Lindsey Graham’s support of Pres. Trump’s attacks on the Democratic congresswomen, adding that the GOP’s “cowardice” response “is embarrassing.” https://t.co/X41eUZAj1Q pic.twitter.com/dgqnIVZysf
— The View (@TheView) July 15, 2019
“The bathos of Meghan McCain realizing that she can no longer monetize the vanishingly small distinction between the racist Trumpism her father helped make possible and the classic Maverick McCain racism her brand is built around sanctifying,” journalist Patrick Blanchfield tweeted.
“Meghan McCain is upset with Donald Trump because his ability to always play the victim is hurting her ability to always play the victim,” Adam Best tweeted.
Earlier on Thursday, per The Inquisitr, several conservatives who have also been highly critical of Omar during her time on the national scene, including journalist Ben Shapiro and former Congressman Joe Walsh, stated that they believed the “send her back” chants were over the line and inappropriate.
