Meghan McCain Shuts Down Sunny Hostin: 'AOC is One of the Shrewdest Politicians in America'

AOC week continued on The View Friday morning when Meghan McCain and Sunny Hostin clashed over the New York congresswoman's influence. After Hostin said Rep. Ocasio-Cortez is just "stat[ing] the facts" about the GOP, McCain shut her co-host down. "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is one of the shrewdest politicians in America right now," said the conservative. "She's not just this innocent fawn in the woods."

For what seems like the hundredth day this week, the women of The View discussed the infighting among progressives and moderates within the Democratic Party. Earlier this week, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted that Democratic leadership needs to "ask themselves if playing patty-cake w GOP Senators is really worth the dismantling of people's voting rights," a remark that has been used by Republicans, including Sen. Mitch McConnell, as evidence of her disinterest in bipartisanship. "It's pretty clear the era of bipartisanship is over," said the Senate minority leader in a press conference on Tuesday.

Hostin was first to chime in, and she was quick to highlight the irony of McConnell's words. "Mitch McConnell has made his plan to run out the clock and not be bipartisan really, really clear," she said, before running through the senators' years of "scorched earth" tactics. "I'm not sure why everyone seems to get angry at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez when she just states the facts, when she just tells it like it is."

.@sunny: “I’m not sure why everyone seems to get angry at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez when she just states the facts”

“Shouldn’t we take [Sen. McConnell] at his word? When someone tells you who they are the first time, you believe them ... He’s not interested in bipartisanship.” pic.twitter.com/f55w2carSN

— The View (@TheView) June 11, 2021

Of course, McCain, a fervent AOC critic, couldn't let that comment slide. "It's pretty depressing. I don't live like this," she said of the lack of bipartisanship in Congress. "I don't think this is the way the American government was intended to be designed."

"I think there's fault in all places," continued McCain, adding that Ocasio-Cortez is "one of the shrewdest politicians" on Capitol Hill, and to say she's "just stating the facts" is false. "She has her own agenda, and she's going after people in her own party like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema — who, by the way, are people who have put their money where their mouth is and are working with the other side and trying to get things done in a bipartisan way."

"I think that's the spirit of America. That's the America I want to live in," she concluded. "I don't think when Joe Biden became elected president to 'heal the soul of the nation' and to 'be a president for all Americans' it meant, 'Screw Republicans forever. Now I'm in power.' And if that's the message going forward, I just don't know how you maintain it because it's just not a good faith argument."

.@MeghanMcCain: “[Ocasio-Cortez] has her own agenda and she’s going after people in her own party like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema who … are working with the other side … in a bipartisan way and I think that’s the spirit of America. That’s the America I want to live in.” pic.twitter.com/QjlwZs0fu7

— The View (@TheView) June 11, 2021

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Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.