As President Donald Trump faces criticism for his continued reference of the coronavirus as “the Chinese Virus,” he is gaining support from The View co-host Meghan McCain. During Wednesday’s episode of the ABC morning talk show, McCain, in a heated debate with her fellow co-hosts, said that she backed Trump’s controversial usage of the term, despite the widespread warnings from the World Health Organization (WHO) and other organizations.
After guest co-host Sarah Haines said that she felt Trump was attempting to “politicize” the pandemic and Whoopi Goldberg, who videoed in from home, noted that there has already been backlash against Asian-Americans, McCain voiced her support for calling the coronavirus “the Chinese Virus.”
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“I agree with you that I think if the left wants to focus on P.C. labeling this virus, it is a great way to get Trump re-elected,” she said, according to The Daily Beast. “I don’t have a problem with people calling it whatever they want. It’s a deadly virus that did originate in Wuhan.”
“I don’t have a problem with it, and I think China, had they acted right away, and we had more access to information, maybe it wouldn’t have gotten to the place that it is,” McCain continued. “That doesn’t mean that we should be, in any way, stereotyping.”
When Goldberg interjected, stating that we shouldn’t be “pointing fingers” or using the virus to “stereotype,” pointed to her own social media as proof that she’s not a “proponent” of racial targeting before praising Trump for his stance.
“There’s a lot of anger about our reliance on the Chinese government right now, and our reliance on China in so many ways,” she said. “And that messaging from President Trump and his messaging from the very beginning that we need to remove our trade from China is going to be very effective going into 2020.”
Although Trump initially refrained from calling the coronavirus “the Chinese Virus,” instead at first calling it a “foreign virus,” he labeled it the “Chinese virus” in a tweet Monday night. He has since used the term on multiple occasions, in both speeches and his social media posts, prompting fierce backlash.
Responding to questions during a press briefing on Tuesday, the president defended his use of the term, stating, “’cause it comes from China. It’s not racist at all, no, not at all. It comes from China, that’s why. I want to be accurate.”
“I have great love for all of the people from our country, but as you know China tried to say at one point…that it was caused by American soldiers,” he continued, according to CNN. “That can’t happen. It’s not gonna happen, not as long as I’m President. It comes from China.”
