Elizabeth Warren was on The View Tuesday for the show’s second episode back after the new year. She talked about a number of issues, from John Bolton’s potential impeachment testimony to the lack of diversity among Democratic presidential candidates. But it was while she was discussing her own tax plan that we got the best moment.
Elizabeth Warren on The View expertly pitches her wealth tax and explains how she’ll pay for universal childcare, $800B into public education, etc. without increasing middle-class taxes. The cherry on top is Liz not even acknowledging Meghan McCain’s rude interruption attempts. pic.twitter.com/HKs0HXY7qL
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) January 7, 2020
By now, you’ve probably heard Warren discuss her big corporation and ultra-millionaire tax plan, perhaps even many times over. Maybe that’s why Meghan McCain felt comfortable repeatedly trying to interrupt her (or maybe it’s because that’s just what McCain does), but Warren wasn’t having it.
In the clip above, Warren explains how many public services can be paid for by forcing the ultra-wealthy and giant conglomerates to pay their fair share of taxes. Around the 55-second mark, McCain interrupts, asking “Can we just switch gears?” The answer is no. Warren just keeps going, saying how much money could go to cancelling student loan debt and funding historically black colleges and universities. McCain keeps trying to “switch” topics as Warren and Sunny Hostin keep talking about taxes without so much as looking at her, finally driving McCain to give her signature eye roll to the audience, as if they’re on her side.
Watching Warren smoothly handle Meghan gives great insight into how she would steamroll Trump in the general. https://t.co/bLwt4uawvN
— Shannon (@TheStagmania) January 7, 2020
The audience is going wild as Elizabeth Warren explains what new programs will be funded with her tax on the ultra wealthy. Meghan McCain tries to interrupt, and Warren just keeps talking as the audience continues cheering.#TheView
— Charlotte Clymer🏳️🌈 (@cmclymer) January 7, 2020
Like when you don’t see a speed bump and run right over it without slowing down.
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) January 7, 2020
I’m sure McCain will claim that she was ignored because she’s cOnSeRvAtIvE, when in reality, it’s because she refuses to listen and engage with conversations in a meaningful way. She’s built to steamroll and pout, nothing more.
This exchange (or lack thereof) came one day after she used to the show to support Donald Trump’s ordered assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, showing zero understanding of the situation beyond Bad Guy = Bad; Killing Bad Guy = Good. “For me,” she said Monday, “when a big, bad terrorist gets blown up, I’m happy about it.”
On Tuesday, she tried to catch Warren in a hypocrisy trap that doesn’t actually exist.
“I believe you respect the American military and respect our troops. You have traveled overseas many times. I just want to say that first and foremost,” she said before accusing Warren of flip-flopping.
“You issued a statement calling Soleimani a murderer,” McCain continued. “Later, you issued a second statement saying that he was ‘an assassination of a senior foreign military official.’ Now, this is a man who is obviously responsible for hundreds of American troops’ deaths, carnage that we can’t even imagine.”
“The Treasury Department and the State Department have both designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a ‘terrorist organization,” she said, “I don’t understand the flip-flop. I don’t understand why it was so hard to call him a terrorist, and I would just like you to explain the change.”
Warren told her that “this isn’t a change,” and that both things can be true. Soleimani can be both a terrorist and a senior foreign military official whose assassination, acted out without Congressional approval, puts us at risk of war.
In the clip, Warren refers to Saddam Hussein as an example of “a bad guy” who it was “not in the interest of the United States” to go to war against. The effort to find “inconsistency” here is making people look very stupid. https://t.co/vM7fqj9HY7
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) January 7, 2020
Even after Warren answered the question thoroughly and eloquently, McCain kept pushing, asking Warren to call him a terrorist. She seemed to think of it as some kind of “gotcha” question over the semantics of Warren saying Soleimani was part of a terrorist organization.
Warren, though, answered directly: “Of course he’s a terrorist,” she said. “But the question is, what’s the right response? And the response that Donald Trump has picked is the most incendiary and has moved us right to the edge of war. And that is not in our long-term interests.”
[A senior government official who, yes, was also a murderer, gets assassinated]
“UH, SEEMS AS THOUGH YOU CALLED HIM A MURDERER, BUT ALSO A SENIOR GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL. WHY THE FLIP-FLOP!?”
Jesus, Meghan.
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) January 7, 2020
Maybe next time, Meghan. (But probably not.)
(image: screengrab)
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
