Meghan McCain announces she's leaving ‘The View’: 'This is going to be my last season'

Meghan McCain officially announced on Thursday that she is walking away from her role as the token conservative on ABC News’ "The View."

"I’m just going to rip the Band-Aid off, I am here to tell all of you, my wonderful co-hosts and the viewers at home that this is going to be my last season here at ‘The View,’" McCain said to open the show. 

"I will be here through the end of July to finish up the season with all of you, which I am grateful for. This was not an easy decision, it took a lot of thought and counsel and prayer and talking to my family and close friends, and, you know, look, COVID has changed the world for all of us and it changed the way I am looking at life, the way I am living my life, what I want my life to look like, and when I said ‘goodbye’ to all of you in the studio, over a year and a half ago, I had just found out I was pregnant. I left the city very quickly because my OGBYN wanted me to leave because he wasn’t sure how COVID could possibly impact pregnant women," McCain continued.

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McCain said she had built an incredible life with her husband Ben Domenech and their daughter Liberty in the Washington, D.C. area and didn't want to leave.

"On a professional note, this show is one of, hands down, the most greatest, exhilarating, wonderful privileges of my entire life and I have had so many amazing experiences in my life," she said.

McCain then praised her co-hosts as "the most talented women on all of television, hands down" and recounted her late father Sen. John McCain talked her into taking the gig in the first place. 

"He said that I could never give up an opportunity to work on such an iconic show and to work with Whoopi Goldberg," she said. "He was right."

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McCain then touted the success of her time on the show, ranging from awards to being parodied on "Saturday Night live."

"It is not easy to leave but I feel this is just the right decision for me at this moment and I just want to thank all of you, Whoopi, Joy, Sunny, Sarah, I also want to think Abby Huntsman who was a good friend of mine, continues to be a good friend of mine, and has really helped me with this decision," McCain said before going on to thank various producers, staffers and ABC executives. 

"I wish nothing but continued success and good wishes and good luck to all of you and to this show, I’m just eternally grateful to have had this opportunity here so, seriously thank you from the absolute bottom of my heart," she said. "I will still be here another month, so if you guys want to fight a little bit more, we have four more weeks."

Goldberg told McCain it’s been "quite wonderful" to sit across from her.

"Your dad was very smart, he wanted you to be here with us, because, I think he thought we could help toughed you up for what was coming," Goldberg said.

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Goldberg and co-host Sunny Hostin then joked about the late Sen. McCain joking that his daughter would be a "pain in the a---" who they would grow to love. 

"He was right about all of those things," Hostin said. 

A source close to McCain told Fox News it was "her decision" to walk away. 

"ABC begged for her to stay [and] she said ‘No — I’m done! I’m not staying anymore,'" a Disney source told the New York Post. ""They even offered a contributor role on ABC News, which she turned down … she’s just had enough." 

"The View" did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment. 

McCain joined the daytime gabfest in 2017 and has emerged as a prominent conservative voice in the media landscape. She regularly feuded with liberal colleagues Joy Behar, Goldberg and Hostin on air but the on-air tension has helped the program’s ratings and created publicity on a regular basis. 

TMZ reported that McCain felt "ganged up on" by liberal colleagues and recent on-air drama contributed to her decision.  

McCain’s role as the show’s token conservative often leads to criticism from the show’s largely liberal audience. Everything from her political viewpoints to her hairstyles have been attacked and she even had to defend her makeup choices earlier this year. 

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"People have a lot to say about me in general but in regards to my hair and makeup," McCain tweeted on Feb. 25. "I'm just having fun switching up, playing around and experimenting."

In 2019, McCain acknowledged that she regularly received boos from the show’s studio audience.

"It’s a very liberal audience in the studio, and they’re very vocal," McCain told Elle magazine. "People are always looking to turn you into something."

McCain filled the role of the program’s conservative voice that was previously occupied by Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Candace Cameron Bure, among others. 

It’s unclear who will replace McCain when the show returns from summer hiatus. 

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Last year McCain stepped away from the show for maternity leave and the program lacked diversity of thought as Behar and her fellow progressives typically agreed on the topics du jour.

It didn’t take long for the panel to revert back to bickering when they didn’t see eye to eye upon McCain’s January return. 

"I did not miss you," Behar said during a nasty argument on McCain’s first day back. 

"That’s so rude," McCain shot back. 

McCain called back the infamous moment when saying goodbye on Thursday.

"Joy, I will miss you, too," she said as panelists laughed. "I wish nothing but the best for all of you."

Behar noted that she’s had "disagreements and fights" with McCain but complimented her sparring style.

"We’ve also had some drinking moments that were rather fun and interesting, but I have to say that we had in common, you and I had in common, as do all of us here, that we’re on a show where we stick our necks out, we take the blow back, we take a lot of hits on this show and we stick by our points of view. You have done that brilliantly for four years."

Behar said she appreciated that McCain was a "formidable opponent" and spoke her mind. 

"You’re no snowflake," Behar said. 

"Thank you, Joy," McCain responded. 

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McCain and Goldberg have argued in recent months, with the program regularly erupting into chaotic on-air quarrels. The duo recently clashed during a heated discussion over President Biden's treatment of the press following his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and talked over each other before abruptly cutting to a commercial break. 

However, Goldberg played nice during McCain’s exit announcement. 

"We’ve got a month together, let’s make the most of it," Goldberg said.