ABC’s “The View” co-host Joy Behar suggested on Monday that Democrats should wait until they are elected into public office before they reveal to the American people their true political intentions.
“They should not tell everything they’re going to do,” Behar said. “Like if you are going to take people’s guns away, wait until you get elected and then take the guns away. Don’t tell them ahead of time.”
“That’s what people like me think you’re going to do,” co-host Meghan McCain swiftly responded.
Behar’s remarks arose during a segment where the panel was discussing former Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s (D-TX) decision to end his presidential campaign and drop out of the race for the Democratic nomination.
O’Rourke, who was initially hesitant to reveal where he stood on a host of issues in the onset of his presidential run, pivoted to the far-left after relaunching his campaign over the summer. Most notably, the former Texas lawmaker was the first major 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to call for a nationwide mandatory gun confiscation program for all so-called “assault weapons.”
The proposal has been a divisive topic for the Democratic Party. While O’Rourke’s declaration that “Hell, yes, we’re going to take away your AR-15 [and] your AK-47” has received massive applause from his left-wing supporters, many Democratic lawmakers have since been distancing themselves. Democrats, including those in leadership, have largely been sounding the alarm that such an anti-Second Amendment idea will backfire and simply fire up the Republican base.
“Beto, when my husband told me he got out of the race, I think he’s actually like a beta test for why going so national and being beloved by the media is so dangerous,” McCain said before noting that the former Texas lawmaker generated a massive war chest while running to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) during the 2018 election cycle. Accordingly, he received more campaign contributions in one quarter than any Senate candidate in American history, ultimately ending up with approximately $80 million.
McCain also noted that O’Rourke drew national media attention and fawning coverage prior to his entry into the race, including comparisons to former President Barack Obama. O’Rourke subsequently hired a host of Obama’s previous staffers to work on his 2020 campaign.
O’Rourke’s demand to seize millions of firearms from law-abiding American citizens came as his presidential candidacy had been struggling to gain traction. Both his fundraising and polling numbers were relatively stagnant over the last two quarters despite relaunching his campaign for a third time in August. O’Rourke had not broken 5% support in any nationwide polls since April 2019, and when he ended his bid for the presidency, he was receiving less than 2.% of the vote on average, according to Real Clear Politics.
“He also made some statements about religious institutions get their tax status removed from them because they didn’t support same-sex marriage,” McCain continued. “So he did a lot of, like, battleground culture war, and he ran as the most left, most woke candidate and look where he ended.”
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