Meghan McCain sparks backlash with ‘tone deaf’ comment comparing Washington DC to Baghdad

Meghan McCain was called out and accused of making a “tone deaf” comment on social media, after saying she thought the fences around the US Capitol should now be taken down.

The conservative co-host of The View and daughter of former Senator John McCain tweeted that the fences in Washington should be removed now that Donald Trump’s impeachment trial – and his subsequent acquittal – is over.

The fences made of barbed wire were installed after Trump supporters invaded the U.S. Capitol in January in an attempt to overturn President Joe Biden’s election victory.

“Now that impeachment is done can DC stop having barbed wire fences and humvees around the capitol like this is a military base in Baghdad?” McCain asked on Monday.

The Republican TV personality faced swift backlash for the question – with people wondering if he had been “paying attention” to the situation at hand.

“As if the militarization of DC had anything to do with impeachment,” one person responded. The heightened security of the country’s capital was due to Trump’s incitement of violence weeks before the impeachment trial. Just because Trump is no longer in office, that does not mean the threat of violence is gone, many argued.

Speaking on the attack and the subsequent security, Luke Zaleski wrote: “Trump fomented an attack on us. They are still out there believing GOP lies. We are not safe. People died during the attack.”

Some pointed out that Trump’s acquittal from the impeachment trial will only make in more difficult to condemn violent acts:

“The paramilitary threat from violent Trump loyalist gangs is only beginning. Acquitting Trump only made the fight harder,” one person said.

Others criticized her allusion to the war in Iraq: “How very American to unironically use the city (and country) that you destroyed on the basis of a lie as the benchmark for lawlessness,” Christian Christensen wrote.

This is not the first time McCain has faced backlash for comparing the US to a ‘warzone’. During the protests in New York City in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, she dramatically called Manhattan “eviscerated” and “like a war zone”, although it later turned out she wasn’t even in town at the time.