Who Is Awful Enough to Replace Meghan McCain on "The View"?
With the most irritating co-host on her way out, The View needs to find a new most-irritating co-host.
Since 1997 The View has offered diverse perspectives on current events and political issues from a panel of accomplished women with backgrounds in journalism and the entertainment industry.
And since 2017, the show has also featured Meghan McCain. But as she announced on Thurdsay, July 1, 2021, that the current season will be her last.
Since at least 2019 there have been rumors that McCain was planning to leave the show — Best known for her catch phrase, "my father," McCain is the 36-year-old daughter of beer heiress Cindy Lou Who McCain, née Who Hensley, and the late war hero and self-styled "maverick" Senator John McCain. But that's not to say that Meghan McCain doesn't have her own achievements to point to.
She's and husband Ben Domenech — the Fox News contributor and co-founder of The Federalistwho once tweeted, on the prospect of dating Meghan McCain, "DO NOT WANT" — recently became parents, welcoming their baby daughter Liberty Sage McCain Domenech last September. Other than that...there was that road trip she took with comedian MIchael Ian Black. That's about it.
Still, what McCain lacks in personal accomplishments she has more than made up for in feuds and headlines. Her willingness to loudly share her half-baked opinions on all manner of issue — and to get offended when people don't take her seriously has consistently made for great hate-watching in her tenure on The View.
An "anti-Trump" Republican — mainly critical of the former president when he was attacking her father — McCain has claimed to be "the only conservative woman in all of media." She has also said that Joe Biden is "doing grave spiritual harm to himself and to this country" by supporting access to legal abortion.
She called for Dr. Anthony Fauci to be replaced as President Biden's Medical Advisor after noting that she wasn't getting special, celebrity priority for vaccination. She only recognized the need for paid family leave when it affected her directly, and she only apologized for her defense of Donald Trump's "China virus" rhetoric rhetoric when the rise of anti-Asian violence became too obvious to ignore.
So, with mere weeks left before her departure, who has what it takes to fill her shoes? It has to be someone bold, someone brash, someone vapid and irritating enough to spark up petty feuds and produce lots of headlines.
If we had to consider every obnoxious TV personality with awful opinions, this article would be a novel-length list of gross dudes. But seeing as The View is strictly hosted by women, these five should be among the top contenders.
Kelly Osbourne
If Kelly Osbourne — daughter of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne — is anything like her mother, she would be sure to have some outrageous drama with her co-hosts. Osbourne is also, like Meghan McCain, primarily famous for being her father's daughter.
More importantly, Osbourne's infamous guest appearance on The View — when she said to Donald Trump "If you kick every Latino out of this country, then who is going to be cleaning your toilet?" — demonstrated her willingness to share her clumsy, offensive political views.
Tiffany Trump
If you were going to point to a new famous Republican political daughter to rise to prominence on daytime TV, the obvious answer would be Ivanka Trump. But, love her or hate her, the reality is that Ivanka is a little too composed for the kind of TV drama that Meghan McCain delivered.
She even managed to keep her cool in 2013 when Wendy Williams asked Ivanka and her father what they had in common and Donald Trump responded "well, I was going to say sex..." So Ivanka is out, but her younger sister Tiffany Trump might be messy enough.
While she has largely avoided the spotlight, she caught some flack last fall for celebrating her 27th birthday at a series of Miami-area clubs and restaurants while the COVID pandemic was raging. That's the kind of sloppy self-importance that makes for great talk-show drama.
Wendy Williams
As long as we're on the topic of Wendy Williams, let's add her to the running. She is no stranger to controversy. Whether on her daytime talk show The Wendy Williams Show or in her previous life as a radio "shock jockette," Wendy Williams has demonstrated a willingness to open her mouth and let whatever half-formed thoughts are in there come tumbling out.
As a result, Williams has ended up on the wrong side of everyone from Dionne Warwick to Tupac Shakur, to the gay and trans communities. To her credit, Williams has demonstrated much more willingness than Meghan McCain to apologize for her missteps when she's called out, but her apologies never seem to translate to thinking before she speaks next time — so she'd be great for ratings.
Also, Williams has repeatedly shown a soft spot for Donald Trump — even defending his "right" to cast spurious doubts on the 2020 election results — so she definitely has the capacity to spark ridiculous politcal arguments with Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg.
Caitlyn Jenner
Representation matters. And the fact that Caitlyn Jenner would be the first trans woman to host The View is a nice thought, but the fact that she would simultaneosly be repping transphobia is truly remarkable. Jenner, a lifelong Republican currently running to be the next governor of California, recently voiced her objection to trans girls competing with cis girls in school sports.
She later amended her position to say that, as Governor, she would put together a commision to determine which girls were "truly trans." Still, Jenner's enthusiasm for sharing her political opinions — regardless of how much thought she's actually put into them — is well documented, and could make for a very irritating addition to The View's lineup.
Jenny McCarthy
Last but not least, The View could always bring back one of their old co-hosts. Jenny McCarthy was part of The View's panel in 2013 and 2014, and clashed with her co-hosts in part over her absurd claims that vaccines had given her son autism, and that she had "cured" him with a special diet.
Now that vaccines are once again a hot-button issue, why not bring her back to spread more misinformation, and spark more drama? Because of ethics? Since when have those gotten in the way of great ratings?