As the United States political scene continues to plow full speed ahead, the morning talk show The View keeps proving a forum for argument. This Friday morning, the show hosted actress Pamela Anderson, who discussed her relationship with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and got into a heated exchange with co-host Meghan McCain, who’s made a name for herself representing the “conservative” viewpoint while on the show. That exchange reached the fever pitch of an audience member cheering on Anderson and getting told to quiet down by McCain, who apparently bristled at the challenges to her anti-Assange views.
Discussing Assange — who was arrested earlier this year after the Ecuadorian Embassy in the United Kingdom expelled him, and has since faced federal charges of espionage from U.S. authorities — Anderson insisted:
‘He knows everything. He’s not stupid. He’s actually — he’s an interesting guy. He’s obviously ruffled the feathers of some very powerful people, and powerful people want to keep him quiet.’
McCain wasn’t having it, chiming in with what Anderson decried as a “smear campaign” claiming Assange was “kicked out of the Ecuadorian embassy because he was defecating everywhere and creating messes.”
As McCain continued with her denunciation of Assange as a “cyberterrorist” who’s put the national security of the United States at risk, Anderson insisted:
‘You know who put our national security at risk, is the military. How many people has the American government killed, innocently, and how many has WikiLeaks killed?.. The military has put many American lives at risk.’
The answer, of course, is that while vast numbers of people have lost their lives to the U.S. military apparatus, WikiLeaks have themselves been directly responsible for all of zero deaths. It’s as this part of the conversation got underway that audience members began to cheer in support of Anderson, and when one man could still be heard as applause died down, McCain snapped:
‘Oh, calm down, sir.’
That’s not exactly a standard talk show response to participation in the, you know, talking. Check it out:
Assange’s organization has most recently and infamously been responsible for the distribution of emails that Russian hackers stole from Democrats in an attempt to sow discord ahead of the 2016 elections.
Ironically, despite the macho national security chance of some on the right like McCain, President Donald Trump himself repeatedly touted WikiLeaks while on the campaign trail ahead of the 2016 elections. Of course — unsurprisingly, considering the precedent of Trump’s lies — when Assange was arrested, Trump claimed to be unfamiliar with his work.
Prior to the 2016 election season, WikiLeaks participated in the distribution of large amounts of secrets from U.S. military operations overseas. Although some have claimed that Assange facing charges for this amounts to a clamp down on the freedom of the press, he actively participated in helping former intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning gain access to the material in the first place.
Although when in office as president, Barack Obama commuted Manning’s sentence for her role in that leak, she’s since gone back to jail after consistently refusing to testify against Assange and WikiLeaks.
Featured Image via screenshot
