In her new book Bad Republicans,
Meghan McCain talks about
the hostile and
toxic work environment that she
experienced over at The View.
Now, before you roll your eyes,
just wait until I give you
the quotes and then judge for
yourselves whether or
not you feel any sympathy for her.
Because to be honest, I felt
a little tiny bit of sympathy even
though I disagree with her
wholeheartedly on her politics and
also her just overall demeanor.
[LAUGH] With that said,
she writes in her book,
you can't imagine how it messes
with your self-esteem working in
an environment where the worst
thing you can be in the world is a
Republican during the Trump years.
As the country got worse under
Trump, the treatment from Whoopi,
Joy, and some of the staff grew
meaner and less forgiving.
So far, I'm not with her.
So far, all I can think about is
the fact that she landed a role on
a show where she's making millions
of dollars, not based on merit,
not based on hard work.
But based on the fact that she's
the daughter of a former,
now late senator.
That's it ,that's it.
So, so far not buying it.
Let me continue though.
It was as if I had become an avatar
for everything
they hated about the president.
That's not it.
It felt like the co-hosts and
staff only knew one Republican, me,
and took out all their anger on me,
even though I didn't even vote for
Trump.
Now, of course she's dismissing
all of the unbearable things that
she would say on that show.
She seemed to have no problem
demonizing the Left, demonizing
Progressives, especially.
But whenever she got some of that
treatment back in return,
she would make a big deal about it
as if she was some sort of victim,
some sort of powerless person.
But again,
she's a person who landed that
role based on her family ties and
has a lot more power than the vast
majority of Americans.
So, so far it just seems like
weepy tears that don't
make much sense,okay?
Now, let's go on to what she had
to say about Whoopi.
I found her open disdain for
me more and more difficult to
manage as the years went on and
it became more frequent.
Occasionally, if the show's
political discourse veered into
territory that she found
disagreeable, Whoopi would cut
me off, sometimes harshly.
McCain also recalled a particularly
difficult day in December of
2019 at The View,
when Whoopi Goldberg told her,
girl, please stop talking.
Please stop talking right now.
She started to cry during
our conversation.
>> That's what the reporter says
about Meghan McCain.
>> Yeah.
>> So, I want to reserve all my
comments because I'm really split
on two parts of this.
One part I have a lot of
sympathy for and another part
I have no sympathy for.
But Anna, get through all of her
complaints and then we'll talk
about what's legitimate and not.
>> So the last straw for
her was Joy Behar and
a very specific moment, okay?
McCain writes,
she decided that she had to leave
The View on January 5th, her second
day back from maternity leave.
McCain had given birth to her
daughter, Liberty, in September of
2020, and she was suffering from
severe postpartum anxiety,
which by the way is no joke, okay?
Postpartum depression and
anxiety is really,
really difficult.
So I want to just really
emphasize that.
Now, during a political debate that
day, McCain made a joke about how
Joy Behar,
the show's resident liberal must
have missed her when she was gone.
Behar scowled at her.
I did not miss you, Behar said.
Zero.
Now, we have a video from that
moment.
I want to show you the video so
you guys can kind of see how it all
went down and then we can discuss.
>> Praised me so
much when I was on maternity leave,
you missed me so much,
you missed fighting with me.
>> I did not, I did not miss you.
>> Don't act good,
you missed fighting with me.
>> Okay,
somebody answer the question.
>> Can I weigh in?
>> You know what, that's so nasty.
>> I'd like to weigh in, can I
weigh in? [CROSSTALK] >> Okay guys,
guys, hold on, hold on,
everybody stop, everybody stop.
>> That's so rude.
>> Now, McCain said that she sobbed
during the commercial and
had a panic attack after the show
wrapped, vomiting in her office.
Overcome by her own anxieties as
a new mom, she realized she
couldn't keep doing "The
View" given how toxic the job
had become for her and her family.
She left the show in August.
So, that last part,
I do feel sympathy for her.
Because it's about like I
remember that moment too.
And I do think Joy Behar went
a little too far.
You can tell Meghan McCain
was jokey,
she was trying to keep it light.
And I don't know, I felt like
Joy Behar needlessly was like, no,
I didn't miss you.
It's fine if you didn't miss her,
but like, live on air.
I get it, it gets heated with
political debate.
But that moment I think,
it sucks, it would suck for anyone.
>> Yeah, no, I'm not buying that
one to be honest.
So, we don't have course on it.
But she talked about something else
that I said before,
which was the nonstop leaks.
And so there that really sucks.
And so then they're picking
apart what did she say off
air to this person, to that person?
Was she mean, was she cold,
was she this?
And she says, look, you could have
written that about anybody but
there was no leaks about
the other ones,
there was constant leaks about me.
I believe her on that and
I think that is toxic and
I think that sucks, okay?
So I have sympathy for her on that.
The rest of it, none, zero.
Okay, so first of all if I was on
a show, like The Five on Fox News
channel, right?
And I was away for a while and
then they came back and
they said we didn't miss you,
I would think that was the most
natural thing I'd ever heard.
In fact, I'd take it as a slight
compliment.
>> I know but
that's you in your normal mental
state.
That's not you as a new mom,
who's going through postpartum
depression, don't minimize that.
>> No, I'm not minimizing it, but I
think she's using it as an excuse.
Now, I don't know, so
you can say that's unfair, right?
But why do I say that?
I say it because she explains many
different incidents before she
was pregnant and after.
>> Yeah. >> And each time she has
the same exact reaction.
Anytime anyone slightly criticizes
her, fall of tears, I'm the victim,
I can't believe that you guys
are not forced by the state to
agree with me.
So you had all the tears and
you had all the anxiety and
all that before you got pregnant.
So to me it seems like she's hiding
behind that.
If I'm wrong about it and
she has some real clinical issues
then I'm sorry,
because that's definitely real.
It happens to real people who
aren't on The View, right?
But for her every time she's
criticized, she melts.
Well, then that's not how it works.
You got paid a ton of money to
stand up for your position.
Yes, you're right.
There were more people nominally on
the left, right?
A lot of more establishment but
sunny houses pretty good on on
the left, and Joy Behar is pretty
good on the left, right?
So, yeah,
there are more people on the left.
We grant you that,
the job is to stand up to them.
If you don't want to do it,
don't do it.
And by the way,
she walked away because she's
already incredibly wealthy.
So, not a lot of people are in that
position.
So, every specific example she gave
outside of the leaks, honestly,
I had no sympathy for her at all.
Here, I'll give an example of you.
>> It's funny that you.
Look, I think the leaks are wrong,
especially since it was
mostly leaks about her.
But I also had experience with her,
working with her.
She was the host of the show called
Take Part Live, I would be a fill
in for that show oftentimes or a
guest host on that show oftentimes.
I also was on two episodes of like
a special she did back in the day.
So I know what she's like behind
the scenes and I know the way she
treats producers.
I'm not excusing producers for
leaking things, but I have no doubt
that the producers despised her.
And that's the reason why they
would leak stuff about her.
That's my opinion
based on my personal experiences.
She tended to treat producers as if
they were her personal servants.
And so I have a little more
understanding in regard to why that
was happening.
Again, not excusing it.
So that's why that
part didn't really stand out to me.
But I think you can take
the different accusations that
she's making separately and
make a judgment on them.
And I do think like, look,
Joy Behar, even though I tend to
agree with her more often than not
on that show,
she didn't really need to go there.
Like it went a little too far and
it was not- >> So what?
So what?
So, the reason why I'm making
a distinction with the least is not
because of who she's treating but
because when you're in a workplace
series an implied trust and
it's a breach to the trust.
Whereas when you're on air,
you're in the arena.
So, Anna cuts me off sometimes,
she did it today.
I cut her off sometimes,
I did it today.
We don't then go,
I can't believe it,
this is a toxic work environment.
It's a talk show.
>> I know, but we genuinely like
each other. >> Okay I'll
give you examples of work.
>> It's a little different.
>> No, I'll give you,
first of all that's why we fight.
[LAUGH] >> What, you don't like me?
>> No, [LAUGH] >> I don't like you
either, okay?
I don't like you either.
>> That's her to say toxic.
Okay, so now look I'll give you
examples from other places.
So, Anna went on a panel at
Politicana a bunch of years ago,
there was like four or five
panelists who were all against her.
So what?
She took it like a champ and
she fought back and
she beat them all.
You're in the arena,
that's what you're supposed to do.
>> Not everyone is as strong, Cenk.
[LAUGH] >> You
have to understand that.
[LAUGH] >> No, but
seriously guys, look, when Obama
started doing corporate horse crap,
I turned on him.
And I didn't turn on him like I
now hate him and this is personal.
No, I just said these
are the things he's doing well, but
these are the things that honestly
he's not doing well.
That's not what he promised.
And you know what happened?
A world of hate rain down on me.
The right-wing already hated me.
The establishment then
turned on me.
And a lot of good, well meaning
Democrats who've been brainwashed
by cable news turned on me saying,
no, Obama is the savior even
when he does terrible things you
should kiss his ass.
And they didn't frame it that way
because they were told that no
corporate politician could ever do
anything wrong.
And then I was the bad guy
attacking Obama.
With that world of pressure,
did I say that's it,
everything is toxic and
I'm retiring?
No, that's what we do here,
we battle.
They call it a battlefield
of ideas.
And I have sympathy for her for
all the attacks on Twitter,
I have sympathy for
breach of trust, but
I have no sympathy for
what's going on on air.
It's your job to defend yourself
and your position.
That's literally what you get paid
a ton of money to do.
>> Right. But look,
I think that there's a certain
amount of strength that a person
has when they work really hard to
do what people in this arena do,
right?
Like, when you're passionate about
it because you actually care about
the issues.
Like, you don't care about
how nasty the debate can get.
You don't care about how vicious
the disagreements can get as long
as there's an understanding that
all's fair in political debate,
right?
She fell into it because
of what her name is.
And so for her it's all a game,
right?
She's going into it thinking like
but isn't this just all a game?
This is what I'm doing because this
is like my hobby,
I don't need to do this.
So when you're not as invested and
passionate about the issues, and
you're met with the kind of
debates that she was met with on
that panel.
By the way, we're talking about
The View, we're not even talking
about like significant, super
informed political debate, right?
She's shocked by it, and
she considers it incredibly toxic.
>> And The View is so soft.
I mean, if she had to deal with
anything that anybody online deals
with, I mean, she would have
melted years and years ago.
Look, to me, the whole thing
wreaked of entitlement.
My last name is McCain,
I'm owed everything, I'm supposed
to get millions of dollars.
And when I say absurd things you're
not supposed to push back and
I'm entitled to you liking me and
treating me like a princess.
And these women here who
are accomplished on their own right
didn't treat me as a princess.
I am aggrieved.
>> Yeah, that is-
>> Zero sympathy, none.
>> No, that is her overall
demeanor, right?
I agree with you on that, anyway.
>> Yeah, I see.
>> I'm just a softy when it comes
to women who just had babies,
like it is hell, okay?
I haven't done it mostly because
I know it is hell.
Like your hormones are going all
over the place.
You feel super vulnerable and
super emotionally, for
lack of a better word, like weak,
you know what I'm saying?
So, it's okay to be nice to people
you disagree with like in certain
moments, that's all I'm saying.
>> Of course, and
look in that moment, if I was there
I would have wanted to comfort her
because I'm a human being, right?
And she's having an emotional
moment there.
But if it was the 28th time that
I saw her crying in a row because
someone slightly critiqued her
I'd be a little confused, is that
the mom thing, is it though?
Or is it that you're feeling like
you're entitled to have roses
thrown at your feet 24/7?
So anyways, that's Meghan Mccain