Having ridden her late father’s coattails all the way to … a spot on a daytime roundtable discussion show, Meghan McCain has now effectively wedged her way into our national discourse.
In a way, it’s an admirable feat, as McCain has no real qualifications; very few people agree with what she has to say, and her arguments tend to be inarticulate.
But we’re living at a time in which Americans are in love with mediocrity, and Meghan McCain is the perfect pundit for the age of the reality TV president.
To their credit, Meghan’s co-hosts on The View frequently challenge her half-baked ideas, but anyone who’s ever suffered through a Bill Maher panel segment knows there’s a limit to how much can be accomplished in the roundtable format.
So it was interesting to see Meghan planted squarely in the hot seat as she struggled through an 11-minute conversation with late night host Seth Meyers on Wednesday:
"Is there a way for people to talk about differences in Israeli policy without getting framed as anti-Semitic language?" Meyers asked at one point before defending Rep. Ilhan Omar for comments the congresswoman has apologized for.
"Are you her publicist? Are you her press person?" McCain asked in response.
"What would make you happy coming out of my mouth right now, I’m genuinely curious?"
"I’m perfectly happy of everything that’s come out of your mouth," Meyers replied, adding, "and I like that we spent this time together."
The exchange became increasingly testy as McCain noted that her "opinions are very strong," prompting Meyers to quip, "That is coming across, I do want you to know that."
Though the conversation became tense at times, it’s clear that there’s a mutual respect between Meyers and McCain.
The same cannot be said of Meyers and McCain’s husband, Ben Domenech, who took to Twitter to hurl profane insults at the host:
"I see that @sethmeyers, the untalented piece of sh-t who only has his job because he regularly gargled Lorne Michaels’ balls, went after my wife tonight with his idiotic anti-Semitic bullshit," Domenech tweeted.
"Seth is an awful person who is known within the industry for how terrible he is," he continued.
"He is a monumental a–hole who is utterly unfunny. He deserves the mockery he receives from all the people who laugh at him."
Domenech concluded with one of the favorite insults of the alt-right, tweeting:
"Here is proof that white men get ahead despite their obvious lack of talent: it’s @sethmeyers, who would beg for a third of the viewers at @TheView. He’s awful, untalented, and a perfect definition of a cuck."
Domenech — best known for being fired by The Washington Post for plagiarism — later calmed down, and while he stopped short of apologizing, he acknowledged that is not the sort of behavior one usually expects from a 37-year-old man:
"I love my wife. I apologize for rage tweeting about how Seth Meyers treated her," he tweeted.
"I don’t like him, I think he’s a hack, but I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry to anyone I offended."
As comedian Ike Barinholtz pointed out, if there’s anyone who understands white male mediocrity and the art of being a total hack, it’s Domenech.
"Imagine calling someone a hack when you yourself were fired for plagiarizing PJ f-cking O Rourke," he tweeted.
From here, Twitter users will continue to score points on Domenech for 24 hours or so, and then he’ll once again fade into obscurity.
