“Is identity politics more important than qualifications for a job?” asked Meghan McCain on Wednesday morning’s episode of The View, as she attempted to clap back at calls made by Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) for more Asian American and Pacific Islander appointees in Biden’s cabinet. McCain posed her inane question only a week after being compelled to apologize for previously parroting Trump’s anti-Asian rhetoric, making this an already head-cocking little diatribe—but what else is new? The fact that she was arguing against affirmative action while looking like a test model for one of Yara Shahidi’s ever-changing hairstyles on Grown-ish made for an extra-special episode in the ongoing series of hypocritical and dog-whistling inanities that keep McCain employed at The View and regularly trending on Twitter.
Because exactly what identity are you politicking with this getup, Ma’am?
Only a woman with a trust fund, a largely inherited claim to political legitimacy and the audacity to regularly (and poorly) attempt “carefree Black girl” cosplay would have the equal audacity to question whether marginalized groups deserve access to even a portion of the privileges she’s enjoyed all her narrow-minded life. Apparently, some of us are only good for doing her hair (and makeup, according to reports), but if the idea was to make The View’s most controversial host look as ridiculous as her not-so-hot-takes, mission accomplished. Not that we’re saying her stylist is doing this intentionally, but...we’re just saying.
Of course, we’re far from the first to comment on the abject absurdity of McCain’s on-air styling or her rhetoric, both of which would simply be hilarious if deeply steeped in hypocrisy and given a daily platform on which to thrive. McCain herself seems to thrive on the attention (which we’re begrudgingly also now giving her), tweeting in February, “Let a bitch live!” as she defended “having fun, switching up, playing around and experimenting” as a new mom amid a pandemic. (A pandemic in which she, a host of The View, seemingly felt entitled to early vaccine access—never forget).
Normally we’d agree, and all of this would just be another complaint thrown on the now-exhaustive heap of cultural appropriation. That is, if not for the fact that Black women and legislators are currently engaged in a federal battle to wear exactly these same types of hairstyles in their workplaces without accusations of unprofessionalism or fear of retribution (see: the CROWN Act). Unsurprisingly, self-proclaimed political expert McCain has seemingly offered no commentary whatsoever on the unfairness of that inequity, even while she had plenty to say about gender and race today on The View.
Which brings us back to the hypocrisy and disingenuousness of McCain’s argument today, one in which she defended the proverbial masses of white candidates who have been robbed(!) of opportunities by presumably less qualified candidates of color. McCain even dared to invoke the name of investigative journalist Lisa Ling, an original panelist on The View and the only Asian American to do so full-time to date, in making her argument against appointing qualified AAPI candidates to Biden’s cabinet—as if she and Ling are somehow comparable.
Sweetheart, let’s be clear: One of these things is not like the other. In fact, one of these isn’t like any of the other women of color who have occupied seats on The View.
And while we could continue to be enraged at the ongoing onslaught of obnoxiousness ABC is clearly invested in (because ratings), we needn’t bother—Megan’s hair has already called her an idiot for us. Instead, we’ll turn our attention to the always astute Sunny Hostin, who always knows how to gracefully and pointedly gather a hypocrite (peep the nod to “legacy”) and send them off to glory.