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An intense debate broke out on "The View" Thursday, after Sunny Hostin and Meghan McCain got into it over what Donald Trump's election win means about those who voted for him.
Today's war of words actually started on Tuesday, when Hostin explained why Hillary Clinton winning the popular vote made her feel "more comfortable." "Because that tells me that the majority of Americans understand that racism is wrong, that otherism is wrong, and that a woman can lead," she said at the time.
While Hostin was out on Wednesday, McCain said she was "very taken aback" by Sunny's comments the day before. "The implication is that all people that voted for President Trump because they're racist or because they're misogynist," she said, something Hostin took issue with this morning.
"I think you misunderstood what I said and if you misunderstood it, then other people misunderstood it as well," Hostin said. "My point was very nuanced and let me explain my point."
"I do not think that all Trump voters are racist and I didn't say that. I have friends, I have family, I have colleagues that voted for Trump. I don't think those people are racists, I think they're good people," she said, before accusing POTUS of running a campaign based on other-ism, Muslim bans and calling Mexican immigrants "rapists."
"When people hear that and look the other way and not only look the other way but vote for him, regardless of their personal motivation ... I think you're somewhat complicit in that," Hostin continued. "You don't have to be a racist to allow racism to flourish. You don't have to be a bigot to enable bigotry. When I said 3 million other people saw what he was talking about and they didn't look the other way, they decided I can't support that, it does make me feel better at night. That was my point."
"Is it clearer now?" asked Joy Behar.
"I agree with some of what you're saying. I think that, with all due respect, I spend a lot of time in red America," McCain responded. "I think I understand the Trump voter and I think to say that they're complicit, there's a lot of people who felt really left behind."
"I'm trying to explain my people on the show every day and it's an intense challenge, it really is," she continued, after she and Sunny went back and forth about Trump's Andrew Jackson portrait. McCain, it should be noted, made it clear she did not vote for Trump and wrote in a candidate instead.
"I try every day to explain Trump and his supporters and I feel like after Obama's election, I tried very hard to understand why he won, what we weren't doing as Republicans and I don't think the same respect is being done to Trump, no matter how much you hate him and trust me, I get it," she said. "You are doomed to repeat the same mistakes if you think it's only about you're complicit as this voter."
"I'm sitting here telling you, we have to find some common ground here and I try every single day and I feel like I'm failing right now," McCain added before a break.
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View StoryWhoopi Goldberg tried to smooth things over after the commercial, giving McCain props for bringing a "different perspective" to the show.
"It's important to know, we are mostly shades of things. We evolve and we change," she said, trying to stress the importance of finding middle ground. "We're here to try to do it to show that it can be done, that it can be done with women. We're here to say yes it can be and it is incumbent on us to do our job to get out and make voting a priority again."
"I want to say this to you too, Meghan, this is a hard job to discuss your views, to try to explain in 5 minutes or 1 minute how you feel," said Sunny. "Without being interrupted every second," Behar joked, interrupting.
In closing, McCain said that "Trump's America" has changed things for her and made it more difficult to be a conservative. "I think working on this show is important ... but Trump makes everything so hard for traditional conservatives. It's hard to watch Roy Moore, because I feel like people at home are like, 'She's a Republican, she must agree with pedophilia.' I am a Trevor Project award winner for my advocacy with the LGBT community, how do you think that makes me feel?"
"Of course you wound't support that, I hope that people are better than that," Sunny added.
Watch Part 2 of the conversation play out below:
