Elisabeth Hasselbeck responds to Meghan McCain slamming prayer during coronavirus pandemic

By Charity Gibson, CP Contributor Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Meghan McCain publicly slammed Elisabeth Hasselbeck for saying she was praying while also taking health and safety precautions amid the coronavirus outbreak that started in Wuhan, China, and has since infected millions and killed over 219,600 people worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

The dispute between the current and former co-hosts of ABC's talk show "The View" first began last month before federal quarantine guidelines and state lockdowns went into effect. Hasselbeck, who was once a co-host on the all-women talk show, was brought back on as a guest co-host. At the time of her appearance, there were only 1,215 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States and no states were on lockdown.

Hasselbeck shared her thoughts about the coronavirus at the time, saying: "I think there can be a fine line between what is taking precaution, and what is panic. Yes, we're going to take precautions, we're going to Purell, pray that God's got us in our tomorrows. We pray that this coronavirus is extinguished, that it stops in its tracks,” she said. 

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Hosts Joy Behar and Sunny Hostin disagreed with Hasselbeck at the time and insisted that the government needed to do more.

 Hasselbeck responded by saying, "I think we should prepare, I think we should pray. I'm not going to let coronavirus rule me and let it be an idol ... and I do think our leadership right now is pointing us to say, 'Hey, this is not a panic situation.' This is a precautionary situation, we're going to use Purell, wash our hands — we're going to be okay, guys." 

Hasselbeck’s comments about prayer were slammed by secular progressives in the media along with McCain who said she respects Hasselbeck but insisted her comments were "dangerous." During a guest spot on Bravo network's “Watch What Happens Live” with far-left host Andy Cohen last week, McCain said Hasselbeck’s comments were "unfortunate."

"I took this virus seriously from the very beginning, and I thought a lot of this rhetoric was really dangerous," McCain said. "I don't need to co-host with her again, and it's unfortunate, because I've been a huge fan for a long time. Anybody who is screwing around with this virus and putting out misinformation, I just, I don't really have a lot of time for right now."

Hasselbeck responded to McCain's "angry" comments in a post on Instagram Saturday where she also defended her statements on "The View" last month. 

"I don't like being misrepresented, so we're going to talk this out right here," the bestselling author said. 

"So Meghan, number one, the day I came to ‘The View,’ it was, like, pre-social distancing orders. We were very early in the cycle with coronavirus.”

Hasselbeck said she will "always, always call on God" when "things get scary and when they're unknown." 

"It's my first response and it will always be my best defense," she stressed. 

Hasselbeck also responded to McCain in her Instagram Stories.

"Dear Meghan McCain, Please know I'm praying for you. I'm not sure why you are taking aim at me… I'm not sure why you have gone on the offense against me, but know I will continue to use prayer as my MAIN RESPONSE and my best defense. I'm not sure why you are judging me. We are all doing our best. Be nice. It's a lot more fun that way."

View this post on Instagram

Golly. Getting kids to bed and apparently @meghanmccain is tossing out some anger my way . Meghan- i am going to call you and handle this in the best socially distanced direct manner possible - but hey girl - We are all just doing our best, and I don’t know why you are taking an opportunity to be so aggressive toward me during such a stressful time. #1- I have always liked you and been a vocal defender of your family. I sure did not see this one coming. #2- we are all just trying to do our best, we should not be judging one another we should be in this together #3- get your quotes right. I never said I had the power to pray covid away. The day at the view I came to visit y’all because our hometown had been slammed with a tornado and lives were lost and a school needed help and I was trying to get word out. Nyc was not even in social distancing yet. It was March 11th- it was before anyone was even quarantining - It was the last day the show was in studio, and your major was still encouraging visitors to Chinatown and still working out in gyms! #4 my quote was that I am going to pray and purell. #5 PRAYER will ALWAYS be my FIRST RESPONSE AND MY BEST DEFENSE We have had a family member hospitalized and I have asthma. This is all hard and stressful enough- turn off the meanness as The world needs more togetherness and kindness. I’m praying today that you can lay off throwing the social darts at me. I am not sure why you decided to do this. I’m a momma on my knees in prayer like many others - let’s get back in the same side and be #inthistogether

A post shared by Elisabeth Hasselbeck (@elisabethhasselbeck) on Apr 24, 2020 at 9:06pm PDT