Meghan McCain says her 'The View' successor does not rep conservatives
Meghan McCain says her 'The View' successor does not rep conservatives
Taylor Ardrey, USA TODAYThu, April 30, 2026 at 4:33 PM UTC
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Meghan McCain did not hold her tongue about her opinion on her replacement at her former job, "The View."
The television personality, the daughter of the late Arizona Sen. John McCain, served as the conservative voice on the ABC daytime talk show from 2017 to 2021.
The year after, Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former White House director of strategic communications and assistant to former president Donald Trump, was named as McCain's successor, joining Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, Sara Haines, and Sunny Hostin, along with Ana Navarro.
Earlier this month, Griffin returned to the show after a months-long maternity leave. A series of conservative personalities appeared on the show during her absence.
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'The person they replaced me with is a joke'
On the recent episode of McCain's politics and pop culture podcast, the 41-year-old criticized the decision, stating that "the person they replaced me with is a joke."
"She's in no way representative of conservative women," she said on "Citizen McCain." "It's been a widely disappointing experience for me to see what legacy I helped do during the four years there while my dad battled brain cancer and I had not one, but two miscarriages while I worked there."
More news: Whoopi Goldberg fake spits on 'The View' after accidentally saying Trump's name
What did McCain say after leaving 'The View'?
Meghan McCain attends the 2023 TIME100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 26, 2023 in New York City.
In the last chapter of McCain's 2022 memoir, "Bad Republican," she touches on her sudden departure from "The View, claiming that "the environment on the show is toxic."
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McCain elaborated further on her decision to leave in an interview with USA TODAY in 2021, saying in part: " It was quite a few things. Some of it was COVID and me just having time to reassess my life. Some of it was the work environment, and just quite frankly, the idea of going back into a studio where rampant leaking (to the press) happens, where there's this drama and fighting."
"I just felt like in that moment, and this sounds dramatic, but I literally could see myself crying in my office, and I was like "I am a strong, educated woman who has a lot of things to say," and I feel like this is becoming reality-show-esque. I just felt like it was completely without kindness and without heart, and I just didn't want to do it anymore," she added.
Griffin was vocal about her vote in the 2024 election
usatAlyssa Farah Griffin attends the 51st annual Daytime Emmys Awards at The Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites, Los Angeles on June 07, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
Griffin exited Trump's administration in 2020 in the wake of that year's election and the former president's baseless claims of fraudulent results. She was among his former staffers who issued warnings about his reelection.
In 2024, Griffin opened up about voting for Kamala Harris in the Election Day episode of "The View," Variety reported.
“Four years ago today, I was in the White House with Donald Trump on election night. I believed he deserved to lose that night, at that point," she said at the time. "I thought he hadn’t fought to win the election, but I thought the next four years would be the Republican party rebuilding and becoming something I could believe in and turning the page on Donald Trump, and it didn’t do that. So, this weekend, on Saturday, for the first time in my life, I voted for a Democrat.”
McCain, who reportedly didn't voice support for either Harris or Trump during the last election, questioned Griffin's political stance: "She voted for Kamala. Again, how is that representing conservatives?" she asked on "Citizen McCain."
USA TODAY archives were used in this report.
Taylor Ardrey is a news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at tardrey@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Meghan McCain questions Alyssa Farah Griffin's seat on 'The View'
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
