Meghan McCain and 'The View' Fire Back at Trump Aide Who Made 'Despicable' Death Joke About Her Father

On Thursday, Sadler attempted to make a joke about Senator John McCain's opposition to CIA nominee Gina Haspel by saying "he's dying anyway," an attempt at humor that reportedly "fell flat."

"It's the Friday before Mother's Day, we kinda thought we'd be talking about cheerier stuff," Goldberg said, kicking off the discussion, before kicking it right over to Meghan.

"OK, so first I just want to say, don't feel bad for me or my family. We're really strong, there's so much more love and prayer and amazing energy being generated towards us than anything negative at all," she responded. "I feel blessed. My dad's actually doing really well right now and I believe in the power of prayer and I think it's helping. So I want to thank all the positivity."

"The other thing I want to say, Kelly, here's a little news flash -- and this might be a bit intense for 11:00 in the morning on a Friday -- we're all dying. I'm dying, you're dying, we're dying. I want to say since my dad has been diagnosed -- it's almost a year -- I really feel like I understand the meaning of life and it is not how you die, it's how you live."

"I always have had something to believe in. My dad's about character and bipartisanship and something greater than yourself, and believing in this country and believing in the fact that we as Americans can still come together," she continued. "That's something I grew up in and feeds me everyday. I'm not scared of death anymore, I'm just not. Whatever you want to say in this kind of environment, the thing that surprises me most is, I don't understand what kind of environment you're in where that's acceptable and you can come into work the next day and still have a job. And that's all I have to say about that."

Joy Behar, who has clashed numerous times with Meghan in her time on the show, stood by her co-host and her father. "You said he was diagnosed almost a year ago ... since he was diagnosed, he's shown himself to be more of a patriot than most in his party," she said. "I would like to give that shoutout to him. He is the example of American patriotism which we have a short shrift of lately."

Sara Haines said she admired "the class" of Meghan's response, joking she was taking her "earrings off" when she first heard the comment.

"It was a hard day yesterday, but I get to come into work with women I genuinely have such affection for a respect, Meghan said in closing. "My father's legacy is going to be talked about for hundreds and hundreds of years. These people, nothingburgers."

On Thursday afternoon, McCain's wife, Cindy, took to Twitter to "remind" Sadler that her husband "has a family."