“The View” co-host Meghan McCain said Monday she was “radicalized” by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation process and now believes Democrats will do whatever it takes to “smear” a conservative nominee.
President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., hope to quickly fill the Supreme Court vacancy left behind following the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg – but Democrats intend to stop them at all costs.
“One of my biggest concerns is, if we have a contested election in 2020 and it’s split even like it was in 2000, we have to have a full court ruling on it, so I think the potential for constitutional chaos is absolutely the most imminent it has been in my modern lifetime,” McCain said.
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The daytime talk show’s token conservative then addressed claims that it would be hypocritical to fill the vacant seat in an election year
“Kavanaugh really changed the game for a lot of Republicans, myself included. I was completely radicalized by the experience of watching him testify, I mean there were accusations of him being someone who was part of a rape gang ... and accusations that were completely baseless and it showed that Democrats on their side will do anything and everything to smear any conservative,” McCain said.
Kavanaugh was sworn in as the 114th Supreme Court justice in 2018 after a weeklong FBI probe helped settle concerns among most wavering senators about the sexual assault allegations that nearly derailed his nomination and led to a dramatic second hearing.
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McCain said she “completely expects” whoever Trump selects to be slandered.
“And I don’t think that’s what anyone wants,” McCain said.
McCain, who has openly expressed her disdain for Trump, then said the open SCOTUS seat could help the president get reelected if never-Trump Republicans want to see a conservative added to the court.
“It’s interesting to see what’s going to happen going forward with the election,” she said.
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While emerging from his formal confirmation hearing largely unscathed, Kavanaugh faced a late burst of sexual assault allegations from multiple women from when he was in high school and college. At the hastily convened second hearing that also featured accuser Christine Blasey Ford, he furiously and at times emotionally denied the claims and attacked Democrats and left-wing activists for their handling of the allegations.
Ford, though, maintained she was “100 percent” sure he groped her and tried to force himself on her at a high school party.
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Democrats said the claims were credible and called for further investigation, or even for Kavanaugh to withdraw. While Kavanaugh’s confirmation sometimes looked in doubt, particularly after the testimony of Ford, Republicans and the White House rallied to his side – pointing to alleged inconsistencies and also a lack of corroborating evidence on the part of the accusers. They also slammed Democrats, accusing them of politicizing the accusations and trying to destroy Kavanaugh.
It seems McCain is concerned the Democrats will try the same tactics this time around, too.
Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.