Meghan McCain, a co-host for ABC’s “The View” and daughter of late Sen. John McCain, said Thursday that Republicans must call upon the government to invoke the 25th Amendment following the prior day’s Capitol Hill mob.
“I think that this is a good time to take a very hard look at where we are as a country and take a very hard look at where we are with President Trump,” McCain said on the show. “The bedrock of our democracy is the peaceful transition of power. [Trump] is clearly a president who has turned into a mad king, and at this point, I’m calling on all Republicans and conservatives who still have clout. We have to invoke the 25th Amendment. We cannot withstand this. Our country cannot go on like this.”
The 25th Amendment allows for the president’s cabinet and vice president to declare the president unfit for office, leading to an exchange of power that places the vice president in charge. It can be protested by the president through writing, but would then likely lead to a vote in Congress.
McCain’s statement comes after the lame-duck president encouraged supporters to march on the Capitol, then took to social media to repeat his false claim that the election was stolen from him as the mob broke into the building and forced an evacuation. The events ultimately led to four deaths and numerous injuries for both rioters and police officers.
“This is one of the great national tragedies of my lifetime,” McCain also said before launching into strong words for those that participated in the protest against election results. “These bastards are using the American flag as symbols as they are attacking our own Republic. You are not patriots. You do not represent America. You are scum of the earth who are using and abusing and bastardizing all that I love and have grown up with for your own sick agenda.”
.@MeghanMcCain: “[Trump] is clearly a president who has turned into a mad king, and at this point, I’m calling on all Republicans and conservatives who still have clout—we have to invoke the 25th Amendment. We cannot withstand this. Our country cannot go on like this.” pic.twitter.com/2LxaUnS11l
— The View (@TheView) January 7, 2021
McCain, who is an outspoken conservative, was not the only panelist to react with disgust toward the scenes that took place in the Capitol on Wednesday. Both moderator Whoopi Goldberg and co-host Joy Behar also shared thoughts on the subject, with Goldberg calling the group of rioters “domestic terrorists” and arguing that Trump was a direct cause for the crimes.
Behar pointed out differences between the manner in which police handled conservative rioters this year and Black Lives Matter protestors in 2020.
“The whole ugly demonstration showed you that the police are capable of restraining themselves,” she said. “They know how to do it. You saw it. Not only that, many of them enabled these insurrectionists to go into the Capitol and endanger the life of people like Dianne Feinstein.”