Keith Olbermann appeared on The View Friday to talk about his new book, President Trump, the Russia probe headed by Robert Mueller, George Papadopoulos, Osama bin Laden & ISIS, terrorism in New York City, John McCain, George W. Bush, and more. Olbermann defended his tweet to Donald Trump Jr. that the Trump family has "done more damage to America than bin Laden and ISIS combined."



When co-host Sunny Hostin asked Olbermann about his bin Laden tweet it received some applause from the audience.



"You also got in a sort of a Twitter thing with Donald Trump Jr. A lot of people are of course frustrated by the reaction to the terror attack here in New York. But you said recently via tweet that 'Trump and his family have done more damage to America than bin Laden and ISIS combined.' Do you believe that?" Hostin asked.











"Yeah, we did really well after 9/11," Olbermann said, receiving a groan from co-host Meghan McCain. "I don't think the country has given itself enough credit for what we did not do after 9/11. We did not restrict all of the freedoms in this country. We did not single out people. We did not destroy the fabric."



"Thousands of people died on 9/11," McCain jumped in. "The comparison is absurd."



"But more people died in the Iraq War than 9/11 and we didn't need to be there as a response to 9/11," Olbermann said.



"You think bin Laden did less damage to America than President Trump?" McCain presented the question to Olbermann.



"Yes, he answered.



McCain told him that rhetoric like that is so damaging and reminded him that her brother served in the Iraq, deployed numerous times.



"Bin Laden was dedicated to the destruction everything that we hold dear and our freedom, so when you compare it to that," McCain said before being interrupted by Hostin.



"Perhaps some people think that Trump is dedicated to the distruction of --," Hostin said.



"I believe I'm asking the question," an enraged McCain told her colleague.



"Actually, it was my question," Hostin retorted.



"Okay, so what's your answer?" co-host Joy Behar jumped in and asked Olbermann to prevent the infighting from continuing.



"Somebody answer the damn question," Whoopi Goldberg said, adding levity to the confrontation.



"What's the question?" Olbermann asked.



"Do you actually believe that? Hostin said.



"You're saying that going into Iraq was worse than what bin Laden did on 9/11 is what you said and that ticked her off," Behar described the situation.



"I do, and it's not about disrespecting the troops in the slightest," Olbermann explained. "Or the serviceman, or your father's service which astounds me to this day that he was able to do that. And his service to this country right now astounds me and I applaud him. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm saying that the Iraq war was a waste of these people's lives and it was unnecessary."



"From your perspective," McCain shot back.



"Well, I think history suggests that the two things didn't have anything to do with one another," Olbermann concluded.



Meghan McCain, in response to Olbermann, said she is "so tired of this kind of rhetoric... I'm exhausted."



"How can people like us find common ground?" she asked. "Because we disagree vehemently on our look on the world. And I am so tired of this kind of rhetoric. And I'm tired of it on the right as well. I'm exhausted with it. I think most Americans can. Do you want President Trump to fail? Do you want America to fail? Because I'm genuinely curious?"



"No, uh," Olbermann mumbled before Behar interrupted for a commercial break and promised viewers "stay tuned for the answer."



When they returned Olbermann finished but did not answer the party about wanting America to fail. He did say that he would rather have a third term of George W. Bush and would accept a President Pence in replacement of a President Trump.



"We'll start with where is our common ground," Olbermann said. "Let me start with something you'll probably find hard to believe. It was true up to one thing that he did and it's still been true in the background since."



"My favorite person in American politics in the 21st century is your father," he said to McCain.



"I appreciate that," she responded.



"What I'm saying is in retrospect based on what we've seen in the past 2 years in this country, I owe him and apology. I probably owe George W. Bush an apoloogy, Olbermann said.



"Oh, shut up," McCain said jokingly.



"And I would happily take a third term of George W. Bush rather than this. That's how serious I think this is. This is the other bit of common ground," he said.



"What I want, which is not to have Donald Trump as the president, means Mike Pence is the president. All the policies will be the same, in fact more would be enacted because there would be less of this friction that is always around Trump, and diversions and distractions and meaningless argument," Olbermann added.



"My argued is not about the politics or the policies, it's about that I don't think the guy is stable," he said. "My attitude towards this administration is we're stuck with it... for at least four years, okay. I'm accepting that. I'll take President Pence. I'll carry him to the White House on my shoulders."



Olbermann said he took a test on being a psychopath, on behalf of Trump, and said "he scored very high."



"Dr. Olbermann," the panel said with applause.



The rest of the interview:



