‘The View’: Meghan McCain Calls on Republicans to Invoke 25th Amendment to Remove ‘Mad King’ Donald Trump From Office

The Voice co-host Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late Republican Sen. John McCain, called on more Republicans to support a call for Vice President Mike Pence to use the 25th amendment to remove President Donald Trump from office. McCain called Trump a “mad king” and described the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday as “one of the great national tragedies of [her] lifetime.” During Thursday’s episode of The View, McCain also called the rioters the “scum of the earth.”

“This is one of America’s darkest days. I have been absolutely despondent watching this,” McCain said Thursday. “I think this is a time to take a very hard look at where we are as a country and to take a very hard look at where we are with President Trump.” McCain is the show’s conservative voice but has said she does not support Trump politically On Thursday, she criticized him even further.

“The bedrock of democracy and the bedrock of who we are as Americans is the peaceful transition of power, and he is clearly a president who has turned into a mad king,” McCain said. “And at this point, I’m calling on Republicans and conservatives who have clout: We have to invoke the 25th Amendment. We cannot withstand this. Our country cannot go on like this. And we cannot possibly risk the idea that we could have more violence between now and President Biden getting elected and inaugurated.”

A handful of Republicans who supported Trump blamed the president for the violence at the Capitol, where four people died, including a woman who was shot inside the building. Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois became the first Republican lawmaker to specifically ask Pence to use the 25th amendment. The amendment, ratified in 1967, includes an article that allows the vice president and cabinet to push the president out of office. This article has never been invoked before. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, both Democrats, have pushed for invoking the amendment.

In her speech Thursday, McCain called rioters “bastards” who used the American flag as “symbols as they are attacking out our republic, the same flag that our veterans at Iwo Jima held after World War II. She spoke directly to the rioters, telling them they are the “scum of the earth” and are “bastardizing all that I love and have grown up with for your own sick agenda.”