Meghan McCain voiced her support for the airstrike on Iran ordered by President Donald Trump that killed Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds military force and one of the most powerful figures in the Islamic Republic. During Monday’s episode of The View, McCain said she was “happy” over the controversial military move and assassination, which left terms like “World War III” trending on Twitter.
AFTERMATH OF SOLEIMANI STRIKE: ABC News Political Director @rickklein weighs in on tensions with Iran following the U.S. airstrike that killed Iranian commander.
“We don’t know if we’re in a safer spot or maybe a more dangerous spot on the brink of war.” https://t.co/YCBgS9dtJp pic.twitter.com/FZJ8UNKypj
— The View (@TheView) January 6, 2020
“Yesterday Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Soleimani was, quote, actively plotting against the American public and that Trump made the right decision,” McCain said. “I was actually really surprised to see things like World War III trending, just given the fact that Soleimani was responsible for over 600 American deaths.”
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“Why do you think people are reacting the way that they are?” she asked. “Do you think it’s just because there is this trust gap, if you will, between the President of the United States and the American public? For me, when a big, bad terrorist gets blown up, I’m happy about it.”
Carried out last Friday, the airstrike that killed Soleimani drew a warning of “crushing revenge” from Iran and condemnation from Iraq’s government, raising concerns about potential retaliatory attacks from Iran and encroachment by the president on Congress’ power to declare war. It has also drawn backlash from other political leaders, including Nancy Pelosi, who said that the airstrike might lead to “further dangerous escalation of violence.”
Defending the strike, Trump and his administration claimed that it was a defensive measure in response to “imminent and sinister attacks” on United States forces, allies, or interests in the area.
According to McCain, the strike was warranted, and Trump did what any other Republican president in his position would have done.
“Iran has been escalating their attacks for months and months,” she said. “I mean, they were harassing our warships, firing rockets to American troops, orchestrated a rocket strike to killed a U.S. contractor and wounded four service members and obviously stormed the U.S. embassy.”
“I made the argument to a friend of mine yesterday that I don’t think a President Marco Rubio or President Romney would have necessarily done anything different by taking out Soleimani,” she added. “Why do you think people are reacting this way to Trump doing this?”
According to her co-host Sunny Hostin, however, the killing is “actually tantamount to war.”
