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Meghan McCain slammed for claiming Obama ‘ushered in’ the Trump administration

‘I don’t think perfect presidents would have ushered in the era of Trump’

Clémence Michallon
New York City
Wednesday 20 May 2020 15:09 BST
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Meghan McCain slammed for claiming Obama ‘ushered in’ the Trump administration

Meghan McCain has come under criticism for claiming Barack Obama “ushered in” the Trump administration.

The TV personality made the comments during a recent segment on The View, in which the show’s four co-hosts reacted to a commencement speech given by Barack Obama.

Obama criticised Donald Trump’s coronavirus response in the address, stating in part: “More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing. A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge.”

The View‘s Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, and Sunny Hostin all praised Obama’s address.

McCain, who has often branded herself as the conservative voice on the show, had a different reaction.

“Obviously, everyone on the left has basically appointed President Obama as nothing short of a saint, and obviously I feel different, as most Republicans and conservatives do,” she said.

“I will say – the culture war that I believe is real and is raging in this country, I believe was ushered in with his administration and exacerbated in the Trump administration. And if the election were held today, I do believe Trump would be re-elected.

“And I think at a certain point, we have to start talking to each other in the middle. And we have to start talking about the faults on both sides, because he was not a perfect president. And I don’t think perfect presidents would have ushered in the era of Trump.”

McCain’s comments have been poorly received by some viewers, who feel it is unfair to blame the former president for the actions of his successor.

“Was President Obama a perfect president? No he wasn’t but I have no idea what Meghan McCain when she said he brought in the culture war,” one person wrote on Twitter. ”The only thing cultural thing was that he was African-American & some people didn’t like seeing a Black man in a position of power.”

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“Biden and Obama were both kind to Meghan McCain when her father died. But Biden receives a level of respect she’ll never give Obama. There’s an obvious reason for that, and black people need to stop fooling themselves when in a similar situation,” someone else tweeted.

“So, I watch @TheView almost every day. Love it! But something @MeghanMcCain said yesterday has been really bothering me because it’s just way off base,” another viewer commented. ”She basically blamed Barack Obama’s presidency for ushering in Donald Trump. What?? To blame Obama for Trump is absurd.”

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