It's the end of an era: Meghan McCain will be leaving The View. After numerous reports that she would be announcing her departure, McCain announced on Thursday that she would indeed be exiting the show. "I'm just going to rip the bandaid off," McCain said at the beginning of today's episode. "I am here to tell all of you, my wonderful cohorts and viewers at home: This is going to be my last season here at The View." In the words of Whoopi Goldberg, "Okay."
A source from ABC News' parent company, Disney, told The Daily Mail that the show "tried to keep her," but she was "adamant" that it was time to step back. According to CNN, the decision was inspired by her desire to be closer to her family, including her 10-month-old daughter. McCain will finish out the current season, which concludes at the end of July.
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In honor of this occasion, let's take a look back on her tenure as co-host, pot-stirrer, and hair trendsetter. McCain joined The View as a permanent co-host in 2017, shortly after exiting her role on Fox News' Outnumbered. "I've been a fan of the show for many years, so taking my seat at that table is definitely a career highlight!" she said in a statement at the time.
For the past four years, McCain has emerged as the show's most conservative — and, almost always, most confusing — voice. She'll leave behind an unforgettable legacy of contradictions, bizarre rants, and fights with her co-hosts. Remember when she warned that President Joe Biden will have to "ultimately talk to his creator" and "pay" spiritually for his pro-choice stance? Or when she complained that hosts on The View should be first in line to receive a COVID vaccine? Oh, or that time she denounced "identity politics" and said The View's hosts should be chosen for their "qualifications" rather than identities, even though her professional success directly traces back to her identity as the daughter of a prominent politician? Gonna miss that girl!
All snark aside, McCain has used her massive platform to espouse harmful opinions. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, she defended Donald Trump's racist rhetoric surrounding the virus, which led to a sharp increase in reported anti-Asian hate crimes. "I think if the left wants to focus on PC-labeling this virus, it is a great way to get Trump re-elected," McCain said in March 2020. "I don’t have a problem with people calling it whatever they want. It's a deadly virus that did originate in Wuhan." (She apologized for her remarks a year later.)
It's been a wild ride of memes and hairstyles, but all good things must come to an end. On the plus side, McCain now has time to get drunk at Caesar's Palace again.