Meghan McCain, co-host of “The View,” slammed Vice President Harris over remarks she made during her visit to Guatemala and Mexico this week, arguing Harris “sounded like a moron” when responding to questions on why she hasn’t visited the U.S.-Mexico border yet.
McCain’s commentary came during Friday’s talk show, when the hosts held a panel with GOP Sen. Joni Ernst (Iowa) and comedian Michelle Buteau to discuss whether it is possible to achieve bipartisanship amid a time of heightened political divisions.
McCain, daughter of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), asked Ernst what she thought of Harris’s Latin America trip this week.
Harris during a Monday press conference in Guatemala repeatedly told migrants “do not come” to the U.S. border, adding that the Biden administration’s goal was “to help Guatemalans find hope at home.”
The vice president has also received bipartisan backlash over responses to questions on when she plans to visit the U.S.-Mexico border amid the ongoing surge in migration from Central America.
“And I haven’t been to Europe,” Harris said in an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt when pressed on the topic. “I don’t understand the point that you’re making. I’m not discounting the importance of the border.”
McCain referenced the NBC interview on Friday, saying Harris is “taking heat for not visiting our own border yet” and noting that “some fellow Democrats think that she’s handling the crisis wrong.”
“I thought she sounded like a moron when she was talking to Lester Holt and her nervous laugh is making me nervous that she doesn’t know what she’s doing,” said McCain, who indicated last year that she would vote for President Biden in the 2020 election.
The co-host earlier on Friday had tweeted a clip of a Univision interview with Harris, in which Harris explained, “I’ve said I’m going to go to the border,” to which the interviewer interrupted, “When are you going to the border, vice president?”
“I’m not finished,” Harris said before smiling and letting out a chuckle. “I’ve said I’m going to the border.”
McCain in a tweet with the clip wrote, “That nervous joker laugh… it’s not funny Vice President. None of this is.”
Both Democrats and Republicans alike have leveled criticism against Harris for her overall performance on the Latin American trip and her sidestepping of questions on a potential border visit, with Ernst on Friday saying it was “imperative” that Harris travel to the border soon.
“I think the longer she waits, the harder it is for her to explain why she hasn’t gone to view this crisis herself and form her own opinions about what’s going on,” the senator explained. “So, I would just encourage her to do it very, very soon, and let’s figure out the solution.”
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) on Thursday called on both Harris and Biden to visit the border, but to make sure to “not do a staged visit.”
“Come and sit down with people that I’ve met through all my life. Talk to the sheriffs, talk to the mayors, talk to the county judges, talk to the business leaders. They’re frustrated because what they’re seeing is, they’re seeing people just coming in in large numbers,” he said.