Mary Trump Calls Out Absent Meghan McCain On-Air, Says ‘The View’ Co-Host “Didn’t Have The Courage” To Face Her

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UPDATE, with McCain tweet The View co-host Meghan McCain isn’t off to an easy final week on the ABC daytime talk show: On today’s episode, guest Mary Trump accused the departing McCain of lacking “the courage” to appear in Trump’s segment.

McCain, whose final day on the show is this Friday, was on board for most of today’s episode, but absent later when Trump, the outspoken niece and critic of the former president, appeared for an interview to discuss the Capitol siege and racism.

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The author of the new The Reckoning was discussing the January 6 attack on the Capitol and the racism encountered by Capitol police during the siege, taking questions from The View co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sara Haines and Sunny Hostin. McCain, who had appeared on the episode until Trump’s appearance, was suddenly absent from the line-up.

“It’s a shame that your colleague didn’t have the courage to come on and have this conversation with me but I appreciate that you are all willing to take up these very difficult subjects because racism in my view is at the heart of everything that’s wrong in 21st Century America,” Trump said. The author called The View an “incredibly powerful platform” to discuss issues of race and gender.

McCain’s only comment so far today was a tweeted GIF of Mad Men‘s Peggy Olson striding confidently down an office hallway, cigarette in mouth: “4 more days,” McCain noted with the image.

Trump’s slam seemed to have caught Goldberg off-guard, as the panel moderator went silent for about 8 seconds, at one point touching her ear mic before thanking the guest and going to commercial.

Trump’s new book, The Reckoning: Our Nation’s Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal, is out on August 17. Her 2020 Trump Family tell-all Too Much and Never Enough was a bestseller.

None of the co-hosts commented on or explained McCain’s sudden absence from the episode. McCain, a frequent presence on social media, has not yet addressed Trump’s remark.

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