Meghan McCain Criticizes President Joe Biden's Wave of Executive Orders

Meghan McCain criticized President Joe Biden's decision to issue dozens of executive orders within his first days in the White House. As Biden puts pen to paper on a number of orders targeting a wide range of topics, McCain agreed with urgings for Biden to "ease up" during a tense discussion on Thursday's episode of The View.

Speaking with her fellow The View co-hosts, McCain said she worries "about this seesawing pendulum going back and forth where we're just using executive orders to legislate." She went on to point to a recent The New York Times editorial reading, "this is no way to make law. It's a flawed substitute for legislation."

.@MeghanMcCain: “If [climate change] is this much of an existential threat as Joe Biden’s administration is saying and many people believe—and I too believe, but I have a different way of going about the solutions—then you shouldn’t be flying around in private jets.” pic.twitter.com/8tnEba8huz

— The View (@TheView) January 28, 2021

"If you're Joe Biden and you're losing The New York Times on this and you've made 19 executive orders, as opposed to President Trump who did five in his first week, President Obama who did five in his first week, Presidents Bush and Clinton who did zero, it may be time to start working with the other side," she said. "Because if you're just going to legislate the same way President Trump did, this isn't a sea change, this isn't healing, and this isn't coming together. I thought the whole point of the Biden administration is that you weren't going to be like the Trump administration."

Earlier in the segment, McCain's co-host, Sara Haines, said she prefers legislation compared to the executive order, though she does agree with some of the orders Biden has signed, stating she happens to "strongly agree with the environmental aspect" of the orders. Sunny Hostin, meanwhile, said, "There was so much that the Biden administration had to undo, so much damage. The quickest way to undo that damage would be through executive orders. I don't think it's inappropriate what we're seeing coming out of the Biden administration."

Since taking office on Jan. 20, Biden has signed some 40 executive orders, with 22 of those issued within his first week in office, more than any other president, according to WUSA 9. Just hours after his swearing-in ceremony, he signed 17 orders, targeting, which ranged from former President Donald Trump's policies to restoring Obama-era programs. Other orders have targeted the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, climate change, and opening a special enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act. The flurry of orders, however, has been met with criticism, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell calling the president's signing of so many executive orders the "wrong direction." According to NBC News, Biden is expected to wind down executive actions in the coming days to instead shift focus on covid relief.