Meghan McCain, daughter of John McCain, and conservative “pundit” on The View, is employed in order to provide a mealy-mouthed, conservative counterpoint to her other co-hosts. She is unqualified for this position but has settled into it like a smarmy little toad, saying things she likely believes that are also intentionally controversial, all in the name of “discourse” and “having a conversation.” Wonderful news for McCain, and even better news for her stylist, whose work speaks for itself!
Cataloging the nightmarish words that have come out of McCain’s mouth is a task that we at Jezebel undertook for a majority of 2019, and stopped only for our own collective sanity. Just because we stopped doesn’t mean McCain did. On Tuesday, McCain was forced to apologize for condoning Donald Trump’s use of the phrase “China virus” after John Oliver dragged her by her Sally Beauty Supply ponytail to hell and back. Though McCain’s apology came only after said dragging and in light of the huge uptick in hate crimes against Asian Americans (bad for ratings!), she was incapable of keeping her large foot out of her mouth.
On Wednesday’s episode of The View, McCain did it once more, saying some dreck that sounds very similar to what people who don’t “understand” affirmative action think.
Setting aside McCain’s inability to comprehend meritocracy or the fact that her qualifications for the job she has is that she is willing to be human clickbait, what struck me the most about McCain’s little speech was her hair.
McCain’s stylist, an unsung American hero, has taken out their aggression on McCain’s head, by creating a French-braided middle part festooned with metal rings, anchored on the bottom by two fluffs of ponytail-in-a-bag, lazily curled, half-brushed out, paired with silver eyeliner. It’s a look that screams “I watched Euphoria once!” while whispering in the silence, “I’m young, can’t you see?” It’s utterly confounding but also perfect. McCain is a scourge who looks fine with normal styling and comically bad without; by choosing the latter, her stylist is in on the joke that is McCain’s career.
After perusing the video clips on The View’s YouTube page, I’ve discovered that the stylist in question is not always as seemingly angry at McCain as they were today. It’s not that the looks are uniformly bad across the board, but rather that McCain looks normal sometimes and absolutely not normal others.
Here she is with Whoopi Goldberg, dressed like a real estate agent, talking about Dr. Seuss’s cancelation. Nothing out of sorts! A lackluster blowout, sure, but otherwise fine.
Other choices from the past weeks are not fine. Consider this top, paired with this hairstyle—slicked back on one side, a little wave on the other, and then a small braid snaking in and around the part? Ma’am? What the fuck? The shirt is going to Target on a Sunday, but the hair is going to the club featured in Save the Last Dance.
Perhaps McCain’s stylist has been instructed by McCain or someone else to play up the fact that technically, McCain is the voice of the millennial generation on the show, and should therefore dress the part. That is my most generous explanation for what is happening below.
Clearly, McCain’s stylist is out to get her, but for reasons unbeknownst! Maybe it’s because she is a hot air balloon full of bad opinions, interested only in hearing the sound of her own voice and nothing more. Or maybe it’s because her stylist does, in fact, hate her. Case closed.