‘The View’s Rand Paul Interview Devolves Into a Full-On Sh*t Show: “Don’t Mansplain!”

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Meghan McCain picked a good day to take off work. On Friday, Sen. Rand Paul stopped by The View to promote his new book, The Case Against Socialism, and his interview went so poorly that I genuinely thought Whoopi Goldberg was going to storm off set. Paul and the co-hosts sparred over a variety of topics, but things got particularly heated when he defended President Trump’s decision to pull U.S. troops out of Syria. When the co-hosts argued back, the Kentucky senator shut them down, saying, “I let you talk. You let me talk,” and by the end of the interview, Ana Navarro was fully over it. “Don’t do this to me!” she yelled. “Don’t mansplain!”

The View‘s co-hosts are no fans of Paul’s politics, so it wasn’t surprising that things got heated during his interview. But that being said, I wasn’t expecting a full-on shit storm of chaos. Goldberg came out of the gate swinging, asking Paul why he feels that removing U.S. troops from Syria is a good thing. The Kentucky senator said that he thinks that “these wars are senseless, and so does President Trump,” and by removing troops, the president is trying to avoid getting “us involved in another Iraq war in Syria.” He went on to say that “you’re talking about moving 50 soldiers,” so it shouldn’t be a big deal to remove them, particularly because “the Turks” and the “free Syrian Army” are also “allies” of the United States.

Goldberg pushed back and asked if removing soldiers on such a short timeline was “the right way to do that,” and Paul attempted to skirt around the issue. “We should never be there in the first place,” he said. “That’s not the question,” fired back The View‘s longtime moderator. When he insisted that “for so many years, the left agreed with” him, Goldberg exploded. “I’m not the left nor right. I’m just American,” she said.

Abby Huntsman then took a crack at Paul, saying, “Is that a safer world with ISIS running around?” The two sparred back and forth, with the senator finally saying, “Let me finish answering the question, okay? I let you talk, you let me talk.” Later in the segment, Huntsman brought up Israel, and Paul hit her with another dose of condescension. “Don’t interrupt,” he said (sending my eyes rolling to the back of my head). “I am interrupting,” said Goldberg before throwing the show to commercial.

Things didn’t improve after the break. As Paul plugged his new book, Navarro addressed Republican ads that claim that Democrats “will turn the United States into Venezuela.” The senator shrugged off her criticism, saying, “If you vote for socialists, you might get socialism.” Navarro promptly lost it. “Come on, don’t do that! Maduro is not a socialist,” she said, referencing the country’s “corrupt” leader. “Let me finish!” replied Paul.

“No, I can’t let you finish!” fired back Navarro. “Don’t do this to me. Don’t mansplain! I’m a 47-year-old woman.” At that point, Goldberg had no choice but to end the fiery interview. What a way to head into the weekend!

Watch Rand Paul’s bananas interview on The View in the clips above.

Where to stream The View