Former George gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams recently appeared on ABC’s The View, where she schooled Meghan McCain on Donald Trump’s path to becoming an authoritarian dictator and the primary voting disaster in Georgia.
McCain, a conservative TV pundit who blamed Barack Obama for starting a culture war that “ushered in the era of Trump,” challenged Abrams on The View Thursday. At one point, McCain tried to blame Democrats for the state’s voting chaos, which resulted in voters waiting for up to seven hours to cast their ballots in the state’s primary election on Tuesday. In addition, many of the state’s new voting machines did not work and many voters did not receive absentee ballots, reports The Huffington Post.
“There’s a lot of finger-pointing going on and you seem to be implying that it was Georgia’s secretary of state that was targeting communities of color,” said McCain. “But most of the counties that had issues this week were run by Democrats.”
In response, Abrams argued that Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger should be held accountable since he is the election superintendent and responsible for overseeing voting in the state.
“Your access to democracy shouldn’t depend on your county of residence,” Abrams said.
.@staceyabrams: “We have to acknowledge the authoritarian nature of Donald Trump and we’ve got to nip it in the bud if we want democracy to continue here, and if we want to continue to be the moral leader abroad.” https://t.co/RTeZlTfGht pic.twitter.com/nBZjSOvPT2
— The View (@TheView) June 12, 2020
The two went at it after McCain questioned Abrams for comparing President Trump to Turkey dictator Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
″[Erdogan] is a horrific, murderous dictator. Do you really think it’s fair to call the United States no better than Turkey?” McCain asked, referring to Abrams’ comments suggesting that the United States is in the “early stages” of an authoritarian regime.
Abrams went on to explain that both Erdogan and Trump were voted into office in a democratic election and then used their power to stack the courts with judges who support them. She also noted that Trump is using his power to call for the militarization of public institutions.
“We have to acknowledge the authoritarian nature of Donald Trump,” she said. “And we’ve got to nip it in the bud if we want democracy to continue here, and if we want to continue to be the moral leader abroad.”