NEWS'Traumatized' Meghan McCain Reveals She Cried After 'Getting Schooled' on Bill Maher's Show: 'It Was a Mess'
Meghan McCain revealed she cried after a 'traumatizing' moment on Bill Maher’s show in 2009.
Dec. 2 2025, Published 7:33 a.m. ET
Meghan McCain is revisiting one of the most uncomfortable moments of her career.
On Monday, November 1, McCain opened up on her “Citizen McCain” podcast while talking with conservative CNN commentator Scott Jennings about her rough 2009 appearance on Real Time With Bill Maher.
“[The] one and only time I went on Bill Maher — I’ll never do it again,” she began.
“Literally, I was so traumatized from it,” she said, noting the segment “went mega viral back when things could actually go viral because there were so few outlets on the internet, and Paul Begala is schooling the living s--- out of me.”
Meghan McCain said she was traumatized by her 2009 'Real Time' appearance.
Begala, who appeared alongside her that night, is a longtime political consultant and commentator widely known for advising former President Bill Clinton and serving as a chief strategist for the 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign.
McCain said the whole thing hit her so hard she broke down after the taping.
“I cried afterward. It was a mess, like a horrible…” she recalled. “I’m still kind of scared of Paul Begala. Like, I still — if I were in a room with him, I would be like, very…”
Paul Begala heavily challenged the former 'The View' host on the show.
Still, McCain said she learned a lot from the experience.
“It did teach me lessons. Like, you have to come hyper, hyper prepared when you go on any TV outlet,” she said. “I had been put on TV way too early. As a nepo baby, people like putting famous kids on TV.”
The infamous clash happened when a 25-year-old McCain argued, “The Obama administration really has to stop completely blaming everything on its predecessor.”
Maher pushed back, asking, “You think that’s what Obama’s doing?”
McCain replied, “To a degree.”
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Meghan McCain said the moment taught her to be more prepared for TV.
Begala jumped in, insisting Barack Obama wasn’t blaming his predecessor “nearly enough,” adding, “Ronald Reagan blamed [Jimmy] Carter every day for eight years.”
When McCain responded, “I wasn’t born yet, so I don’t know,” Begala shot back, “Well, I wasn’t born during the French Revolution, but I know about it,” earning loud applause.
Maher even stepped in front of her jokingly, quipping, “He’s a mean man!”
Feeling overwhelmed, McCain ended the moment with, “You clearly know everything, and I’m just the blonde here.”
McCain — daughter of the late U.S. Senator John McCain — went on to become a TV personality herself, co-hosting The View from 2017 to 2021, but her relationship with the show didn’t end well.
In December 2023, she made it clear she’s done with anything involving her former cohosts.
The TV star admitted she cried after appearing on Bill Maher's show.
“The thing about The View is that I didn’t know when I signed my contract with ABC that this is forever, that, for the rest of my life, I’m going to be bullied, yelled at, abused, and brought up for years,” she said on the “Your Welcome” podcast. “I haven’t been on that show in years. And I’m just trying to live my life.”
Meghan said she had no idea she’d “have to deal with these crazy old people just yelling about me all of the time.”
“I go whole swaths of time without thinking about them — whole months without thinking about the show or anything,” she added. “And apparently, I’m just on their minds every day. And it’s pathetic.”
