A discussion on ABC’s The View about President Trump and the latest witness to step forward with concerns about Ukraine went off the rails after the hosts started shouting at each other about how veterans should be treated.
“I think that any veteran, especially somebody with a Purple Heart, deserves our respect,” Meghan McCain said Tuesday about Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, who is testifying before impeachment investigators. “I think I made that very clear yesterday. But where everyone is losing me right now is there is this trend in American politics where we are criticizing veterans … We saw it with Tulsi Gabbard last week with Hillary Clinton calling her into question for this exact same thing, saying she was a Russian asset. All of this language is like McCarthyism.”
“She’s not questioning her loyalty,” Joy Behar protested while repeatedly trying to cut off McCain from talking.
“She called her a Russian asset,” McCain responded before Behar cut her off once more and read what Clinton said about Gabbard.
McCain called it a “bizarre precedent” to criticize American veterans, and host Abby Huntsmen agreed that is “exactly” what China and Russia want.
“They’re all soldiers who have fought and sacrificed and served for this country. We should not be questioning their loyalty. People who put their life on the line for America and for freedom, their loyalty to America should not be questioned! I’m not going to sit here and do it,” McCain added.
Behar cut back in to say, “Just because someone served does not ipso facto make them above reproach.” Sunny Hostin asked Behar to clarify her comments while also mentioning that some American soldiers are “war criminals.”
Goldberg, who acts as a commentator and also the moderator of discussions on the show, then told everyone to “take a breath” as she lectured them about being respectful.
“Let me tell you something about The View,” she said. “This show has always had the ability to have different points of view, which we respect around the table, and when we talk to each other, we also exhibit respect.”
McCain tried to protest before Goldberg cut off the segment and sent it to commercials.
The discussion came as Vindman stepped forward to give testimony to the House about Trump’s phone call with Ukraine’s president, which is at the center of impeachment, and the internal complaints he registered over concerns about the conversation. A number of conservative voices have questioned his credibility because he was born in Ukraine.
Similarly, Clinton called Hawaii Army National Guard major and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard a “Russian asset” groomed for a third-party run in a recent interview.
