The daughter of late Sen. John McCain worried that "identity politics" may overtake "skill qualifications" in landing a lucrative network TV gig.
Screenshot/ABC
Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late Arizona Sen. John McCain and a co-host on ABC's "The View," wondered on Wednesday whether "identity politics" supersede qualifications when it comes to hosting the popular daytime show.
McCain made the comments while discussing the recent controversy between the White House and two Asian-American Democratic senators over a lack of AAPI representation in the Biden administration. Earlier this week, Sens. Mazie Hirono and Tammy Duckworth threatened to block President Joe Biden's white Cabinet nominees unless he named more Asian-Americans to senior roles in the administration. They dropped the ultimatum after the White House pledged to appoint a liaison to address the issue.
"We're going to a place where even if people need money, even if people are qualified to get into Ivy Leagues, race and gender is more important than your skill qualifications, the content of your character," said McCain, one of several children of prominent politicians who landed network TV gigs.
Others include former first daughters Chelsea Clinton, who earned $600,000 working as an NBC News special correspondent, and Jenna Bush Hager, who co-hosts the TODAY Show.
-Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) March 24, 2021
"I think this is a very, very slippery slope," said McCain, who co-hosted Fox News' daytime show "Outnumbered" before joining "The View."
"I was very surprised to hear someone like Tammy Duckworth say something like this," she added, referring to the Illinois lawmaker's statement that she would vote against "all non-diversity nominees" until the White House committed to more representation. "She got a lot of blowback from a lot of people, not just on the right."
McCain went on to say she believed "this is actually just the natural progression of identity politics. And I will say, just to put a cap on this, 'The View' is 25 years old next year. We've only had one Asian-American host co-host this show. So does that mean that one of us should be leaving at some point because there's not enough representation?"
"We're talking about: is identity politics more important than qualifications of a job?" McCain, who launched her professional career blogging about her father's 2008 presidential campaign, wondered. "And I think that's a question going forward that the progressive left is going to have to reconcile."
Her fellow co-host, Sunny Hostin, pushed back, saying, "It's not about gender and race being more important than qualifications. It's about the fact that they're many qualified women and minority candidates that never get the opportunity because of the advancement of generally white male mediocrity."
McCain's comments on Wednesday came after she apologized earlier this week for defending then-President Donald Trump when he referred to the novel coronavirus with racist terms like "China virus" and "Wuhan virus."
"I think if the left wants to focus on PC labeling this virus, it is a great way to get Trump re-elected," McCain said last March. "I don't have a problem with people calling it whatever they want. It's a deadly virus that did originate in Wuhan."
She walked back her statements on Monday, after the late-night comedy host John Oliver skewered her for posting a tweet that called to "Stop Asian Hate" in the wake of March 16's Atlanta spa killings despite previously defending Trump's use of racist language against people of Asian descent.
"I condemn the reprehensible violence and vitriol that has been targeted towards the Asian-American community," McCain tweeted in response. "There is no doubt Donald Trump's racist rhetoric fueled many of these attacks and I apologize for any past comments that aided that agenda."
