Every day of the work week, Meghan McCain brings her conservative perspective to millions of Americans via co-hosting the popular talk show The View — and now, her behavior is reported to have helped drive one of her co-hosts into leaving. McCain is known for her always forward behavior, and this week, following fellow co-host Abby Huntsman’s announcement that she’d be leaving at the end of the week, CNN reported that behind-the-scenes tension between her and McCain had helped drive her decision to leave.
According to the outlet, a major flashpoint was McCain’s alleged frustration over Huntsman lauding her children during conversations on the show. McCain had a miscarriage at one point, and she allegedly claimed that Huntsman’s simple step of praising her kids was insensitive.
According to CNN:
‘Following one episode, McCain confronted Huntsman for bringing up her kids on the show. Word of the “baby fight,” as one person called it, quickly spread around “The View” and strained the relationship between the two women.’
As one anonymous source for the outlet put it:
‘Abby was sick of being berated by Meghan for perceived slights. She ultimately decided she didn’t need this job and it wasn’t worth it.’
Three anonymous sources for the outlet claim that Huntsman and McCain have “made amends” following the disagreements, but the damage was apparently done anyway. According to the same report, Huntsman was also driven to leave the show by the overall “toxic” work environment, which she reportedly brought up to ABC News exec Barbara Fedida when informing her of her decision to quit the show.
Huntsman’s stated explanation for her departure is her decision to work for her father’s campaign to be the next governor of Utah. Huntsman’s father — Jon Huntsman Jr. — has held the position before, and he’s launched a campaign to take it back following a stint in the Trump administration as their ambassador to Russia.
The younger Huntsman commented on air this Monday:
‘This is always such a hard thing to do. And especially this table because this is a really special table. The most iconic show I think on television and the smartest women that I’ve ever worked with. But today I’m saying goodbye.’
She has been a co-host on the show since 2018. She was the most recent addition to the show’s panel — McCain, the second most recent add, started on the show in 2017.
According to one source who CNN describes as close to the co-host, McCain has “felt isolated” at the show for “months” and herself considered leaving.
That source commented, rather bluntly:
‘Meghan has been miserable there for quite some time, and not because of Abby. She wishes her nothing but the best.’
McCain has been involved in a number of on-air spats during her comparatively brief time on the show. For example, last month, a moment attracted a lot of attention in which panel moderator Whoopi Goldberg dramatically demanded that McCain “please stop talking right now!” After the show, McCain took to Twitter to complain about voices like her own getting silenced by the “overwhelmingly anti-conservative media” — but that’s not happening. There’s no conspiracy. The president’s side just likes to yell.
