Meghan McCain is getting flack after advocating that Dr. Anthony Fauci should be fired.
The View host drew criticism on Feb. 22 when she called for the removal of Fauci, who has been the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the U.S. since 1984, as she shared her frustrations over not yet being vaccinated.
McCain, 36, called the COVID-19 vaccine rollout process "so nebulous" before criticizing Fauci's leadership during the pandemic, claiming he should be replaced by someone that "does understand science."
"I, Meghan McCain, co-host of The View, I don't know when or how I will be able to get a vaccine," she told viewers. "I want to get it. If you call me at 3 o'clock in the morning, I will go any place at any time to get it. I want to be responsible and obviously wait my turn, but this rollout has been a disaster."
The political commentator continued, "I'm over Dr. Fauci. I think we need to have more people giving more opinions, and I honestly quite frankly think the Biden administration should remove him and put someone else in place that maybe does understand science or can talk to other countries about how we can be more like these places that are doing this successfully."
Specifically, she compared coronavirus messaging and processes in the U.S. to those in Israel, praising how Tel Aviv advertised the vaccine by saying, "Get a shot, take a shot." She then criticized Fauci's "inconsistent" messaging.
McCain explained, "The idea that I can get vaccinated and I won't be able to see friends, and nothing in life changes, and that we're going to have to wear masks forever, I don't understand the downplaying of getting the vaccine because right now we should be wanting as many Americans as possible to get a vaccine."
On Monday morning, she doubled down on her stance on Twitter, writing, "Many of you can keep worshiping at the alter of Fauchi. [sic] I'm not a phony - i will not go on tv and lie saying one thing privately and another on air."
McCain added that she stands by her opinion that the U.S. needs "someone else in charge" of coronavirus messaging and leadership.
After CNN anchor Christopher Cuomo retweeted a video of her speech on The View, Meghan responded by taking aim at his brother, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
She wrote, "You and your ghoul of a brother were doing comedy shows with giant q tips and joking about his sex life while covering the number of nursing home deaths in nyc," referencing accusations against the politician for undercounting nursing home deaths, as reported by NBC News. She demanded the governor "finally apologize" to the family members of COVID-19 victims "he helped to kill."
The new mom was ultimately criticized on social media for going after Fauci, who became a household name last year following his coronavirus press briefings. The 80-year-old immunologist became a finalist for TIME's Person of the Year in 2020 and was even portrayed by Brad Pitt on Saturday Night Live.
McCain, who just gave birth to her first child Liberty last year, returned to the show from maternity leave on Jan. 4—and didn't exactly receive a warm welcome back.
On the Jan. 5 episode, Joy Behar called out her co-star for interrupting her, saying, "I was speaking." McCain then retorted, "Joy, you missed me so much when I was on maternity leave. You missed me so much. You missed fighting with me. Don't act like you don't miss fighting with me." Behar responded, "I did not. I did not miss you. Zero," before laughing.
The next week, McCain opened up about her rocky return when speaking to Andy Cohen.
"So it's been such a rough reentry back into The View," she told him. "I had a really hard time getting back to work—I thought I would be back to work by the election. ... It's just been a lot."
However, she noted that all the ladies of The View attended the funeral of her dad, the late Senator John McCain, in 2018.
"We're a family," she shared. "We've been through a lot of s--t together, and I miss being on the show, and I hope that we can all be examples—myself included—for where the country should go forward."