Meghan McCain Rips White House for Mixed Messages During Coronavirus Pandemic

“The View” returned to the air on Monday morning without Joy Behar or the studio audience, both MIA due to coronavirus concerns. Right off the bat cohosts Whoopi Goldberg, Sunny Hostin, Meghan McCain and guests Sara Haines and Dr. Jennifer Ashton discussed the new normal amid panic buying and lockdowns across the nation.

Noting “it feels like this is going to be life for the foreseeable future,” Whoopi asked the other women if they were “feeling the tension” at all after the weekend.

“People are so concerned with themselves, you’re seeing the worst part of human nature coming out,” said Haines. “We have to be in it together — metaphorically together, but literally apart. When you hoard hand sanitizer and other things, you’re not saving yourself from the people you’re not allowing to buy things.”

Sunny noted her own restaurant has “really taken a hit” and will be closing, but she’s “fine” with the decision because it promotes safety for her staff and their neighbors.

It’s then that McCain went off.

“There’s clear a sheer distrust of the government on a level I don’t think I even realized,” says @MeghanMcCain. “The mixed messaging coming out of the White House right now is not only irresponsible, but it’s downright dangerous.”

“Lead by example.” https://t.co/cVclFZQmjA pic.twitter.com/72ET4CZ5lh

— The View (@TheView) March 16, 2020

“I think this has been a total referendum of our distrust of our institutions in this country. There’s a sheer distrust of the government at a level not even I realized and I’m conservative and I fear big government as it is,” she began.

“The mixed messaging coming out of the White House is not only irresponsible, but it’s downright dangerous,” she continued. “You have Devin Nunes going on TV saying it’s okay, go socialize, hug people, it’s fine. We have the President of the United States, who can’t even handle not shaking hand during a press conference.”

At a coronavirus press conference on Friday, President Donald Trump proceeded to shake hands with all the other speakers. He later defended himself by saying, “Shaking hands almost becomes a habit,” adding he was trying to get away from the “natural reflex.”

“Lead by example and I’m not seeing a lot of profiles in courage coming out of the White House right now,” McCain continued. “I think that’s what’s stoking anxiety. I’ve only seen panicking to the nth degree, hoarding toilet paper or complete delusion with a bunch of millennials going out partying at bars. I was furious about this over the weekend because I stayed inside with my husband all weekend, if you don’t care about your own health, care about your parents’ health, care about your grandparents’ health, care about people over 60 because what you’re doing is compromising everyone and there seems to be no in-between.”

“There seems to be no calming of what’s going on,” she added. “I do think it starts at the top and if you have people saying Jared Kushner’s in charge, sorry if I don’t think that’s gonna handle everything well. If you can’t even get through a press conference without shaking hands and putting yourself in a position where you too could be compromised … there’s mixed messaging all the way around which is adding to the chaos.”

“The View” is one of many live, morning shows that will forgo shooting in front of a studio audience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Noting her age last week, Behar announced she would be self-isolating for her health as well.

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