The View heated up again on Monday when Joy Behar and Meghan McCain clashed over climate change and President Donald Trump.
The View has become an intellectual battlefield in recent months, with Behar and McCain leading the charge on opposite sides. Things came to a head yet again this week during a discussion of the passing of former president George H.W. Bush.
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In the segment, Behar asked that the former president be remembered for his dedication to fighting pollution. She noted some of his huge environmental accomplishments, and then pointed out that the Trump administration is undoing many of them. McCain found this tasteless, asking that the discussion stick to President Bush rather than attacking the current president.
Watch Joy Behar flip out on @MeghanMcCain after she suggests keeping a segment on George H. W. Bush focused on George H. W. Bush (as opposed to an anti-Trump beat down) pic.twitter.com/YWDjgSmMXq
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) December 3, 2018
“I want to say one thing about him that was not picked up really,” Behar said of President Bush. “As a candidate, he said ‘those who think we are powerless to do anything about the greenhouse effect are forgetting about the White House effect.’ He signed into law the clean air act amendment of 1990 — one of the most sweeping environmental statutes ever. This president that we have now is trying to unravel everything that he did, and Obama did.”
“If I ever become a one-issue voter, it will be about pollution,” Behar went on. At that point, she was cut off by McCain.
“Can we focus on the president, please?” she asked. “I don’t want to talk about Trump. We’re honoring a great president of the past.”
Before long, the two women were talking over each other.
“I’m not interested in your one-issue voter–,” McCain said.
“I don’t care what you’re interested in, I’m talking,” Behar shot back.
“Well I don’t care what you’re interested in either!” McCain yelled.
At that point, Whoopi Goldberg mercifully sent the show to commercial.
McCain and Behar have become prominent voices for the right and the left respectively, and The View has become a legitimate platform. The show has not shied away from serious issues, particularly in the last several years as the United States becomes more and more polarized.
On Twitter, many seemed to be more outspoken in support of McCain than Behar on this particular issue. Many replied saying that a segment about the former president should stay on topic, rather than delving into specific issues. Some, however, noted that it was natural to compare one leader to another, particularly on a matter as pressing as climate change.
Former president George H.W. Bush passed away on Friday, Nov. 30 at the age of 94. He succumbed to complications from Parkinson’s Disease, and passed in his home in Houston, Texas.
