Tuesday on The View, the liberal hosts displayed a sudden respect for fired White House staffer Omarosa Manigault, after the controversial figure took her fame to reality television to spread malicious gossip about the Trump White House. With the exception of Meghan McCain, the hosts touted Omarosa’s supposed “leaks” about Vice President Mike Pence’s “scary” Christianity on CBS’s Celebrity Big Brother this week, as gospel-truth.
Mid-discussion, hosts Meghan McCain and Sunny Hostin got into a fight over what “value voters” meant and Hostin incredulously denied being a liberal, when McCain addressed her as such, seemingly just to make McCain look foolish.
After playing the clip from Celebrity Big Brother, where Omarosa trashes Pence as an “extreme Christian” who has conversations with Jesus, the panel took turns taking shots at the Vice President’s faith.
Hostin, who identifies as Catholic, called Pence’s Christianity “dangerous:”
When you have a Mike Pence, that now sort of puts this religious veneer on things and calls people values voters, I think we’re in a dangerous situation. Look I’m Catholic. I’m a faithful person, but I don’t know that I want my Vice President speaking in tongues and having Jesus speak to him.
While Joy Behar decided to mock Pence instead, suggesting he had a “mental illness.”
“Like I said before, it's one thing to talk to Jesus. It's another thing when Jesus talks to you,” she warned.
Hostin agreed as the audience clapped. “Exactly. That's different!” she gushed.
“That's called mental illness, if I'm not correct. Hearing voices,” Behar quipped.
Guest host Sherri Shepherd added to the mockery, saying, “What concerns me is how long is the conversation with Jesus...anything that’s too much is concerning.”
Behar wasn’t done with the jokes. “Can he talk to Mary Magdalene without his wife in the room?” she grinned, referencing Pence’s admission last year that he does not go on dinner dates with women without his wife present.
Hostin kept trying to make the situation more dire. “Do we want our politics served to us with a religious veneer over it?” she questioned, before laying into Pence for addressing the Trump White House as a “values-driven administration.”
Finally McCain pushed back, addressing Hostin as a “liberal” who obviously has a different worldview than Pence. Laughably, Hostin actually denied being a liberal, despite her political views aligning perfectly with the Democratic party. She smirked condescendingly as a stunned McCain struggled to rebut Hostin’s charge:
MCCAIN: I don't know how to say this in a way that doesn't sound disrespectful. But I understand, if you're a liberal, obviously you have certain problems with Mike Pence. Obviously. We see the world through very different veneers.
HOSTIN: Why am I a liberal?
MCCAIN: I just assumed you were because--
HOSTIN: That’s not a very great assumption. [smirks]
MCCAIN: There's very few things you have said on this show that show me-- I apologize, you're conservative, I guess. I'm not in this fight today.
After Whoopi reined in the conversation, she simply asked the panel if they would prefer Mike Pence or Donald Trump as president. The entire panel agreed that for different reasons they would prefer Pence as president, even Joy Behar and Sunny Hostin, who have previously complained on the show that Pence was “incompetent” and “misogynistic.” Whoopi didn’t give an opinion but has crazily claimed that Pence was like a member of the KKK who wanted to hang her on a tree, on a previous episode.
To read the full transcript, click expand below:
The View
2/13/18
11:04:00- 11:09:17am
MEGHAN MCCAIN: I will say that the leaking that they're talking about. Her dish is not that interesting. Mike Pence is a conservative. She’s not actually revealing intimate secrets which to me shows she’s trying to atone for working in the Trump White House.
[cross-talk]
MCCAIN: Can I finish? I just think that she’s trying to get a new job someplace. She’s trying to be accepted back in mainstream media after working in the Trump White House. I don't think what she's saying is that interesting.
SUNNY HOSTIN: I think what’s is interesting is she says that Jesus tells Mike Pence things to say.
MCCAIN: When was she around Mike Pence though?
HOSTIN: Well obviously she was around him because she knows a lot more than I think we all know about Mike Pence. What I do know about Mike Pence, is I went to law school in Indiana. He's a hated figure there, actually. He's not very popular at all. When you have a Mike Pence, that now sort of puts this religious veneer on things and calls people values voters, I think we’re in a dangerous situation. Look I’m Catholic. I’m a faithful person, but I don’t know that I want my Vice President speaking in tongues and having Jesus speak to him.
JOY BEHAR:Like I said before, it's one thing to talk to Jesus. It's another thing when Jesus talks to you.
HOSTIN: Exactly. That's different. [applause]
BEHAR: That's called mental illness, if I'm not correct. Hearing voices.
SHERRI SHEPHERD: You know Joy, as a Christian, that's just par for the course. You talk to Jesus. Jesus talks back. What concerns me is how long is the conversation with Jesus.
HOSTIN: But Jesus is telling him to say things.
SHEPHERD: I ask Jesus for a parking spot.
BEHAR: My question is, can he talk to Mary Magdalene without his wife in the room? [laughter]
SHEPHERD: I think when everything, you're saying Jesus is -- I think even in the Bible, it say, do all things in moderation. So anything that is too much is concerning.
HOSTIN: But do we want our politics served to us with a religious veneer over it? We’re supposed to be a seperate--
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: It was a question when John Kennedy was running. They were very, very concerned. Because he was going to be the first Catholic president. And I remember this because I went to Catholic school and all the nuns were talking about it. Saying, you know, people feel that the Pope is going to be sitting in the White House with him, guiding him. But that's not what we do in this country. This country is made up of lots of religions.
BEHAR: The nuns said that?
WHOOPI: Yes, the nuns said that. It's made up of lots of religions. We all get to believe how we wish to believe. So the president should not be concerned that you know, these people are saying this because we know it's not so.
HOSTIN: But the other thing is, how is Mike Pence-- how is the Trump administration a values-driven administration?
MCCAIN: He’s talking about values in a lot of times, reference to being pro-life. I assume you said you were at one point in time on this show--
HOSTIN: I don't see the values in the administration with Rob Porter beating the --
MCCAIN: The political term of what it means is being-- valuing life. That is a -- it's an old term used in politics.
HOSTIN: No, no, Meghan. That's not true. Values driven means not only being pro-life, but means being pro-marriage. It means being pro- having good values. Pro-compassion. Pro empathy. So many things. It's not only about pro-life. And the bottom line is, this administration is not a values-driven administration. You have people beating each other's wives.
MCCAIN: I don't know how to say this in a way that doesn't sound disrespectful. But I understand, if you're a liberal, obviously you have certain problems with Mike Pence. Obviously. We see the world through very different veneers.
HOSTIN: Why am I a liberal?
MCCAIN: I just assumed you were because--
HOSTIN: That’s not a very great assumption. [smirks]
MCCAIN: There's very few things you have said on this show that show me-- I apologize, you're conservative, I guess. I'm not in this fight today.
BEHAR: She’s a misfit. Sunny is a misfit.
SHEPHERD: It's too early.
[cross-talk]
MCCAIN: I have respect for Mike Pence. You should be very careful about what you say about Trump because that man could be president. I think that's what's important about what Omarosa was saying.
BEHAR: Well that’s what Omarosa was saying. She’s sorry if Trump gets kicked out because you’re going to be stuck with Pence.
SHEPHERD: Also Meghan, we're looking at Omarosa on this thing. You know she's trying to get a book. Every confession, every tear, she cut her teeth doing reality TV show. Everything she's saying is, this a chapter in her book. So how seriously you're going to take that?
MCCAIN: We turned it into a discussion about the criticism of value voters in this country. A criticism of Mike Pence and his faith. Jesus speaking to him. You saying that. I think Jesus speaks to me everything morning.
SHEPHERD: But here's the beauty about Jesus. We don’t have to get mad about it because Jesus defends himself.
WHOOPI: Here's the thing. [ Applause ] I'm going to shut this down. I think the conversation was really about opinions. That's what the show is. And we have three comics on. And funny stuff and weird stuff is going to happen in most people sort of get it. We get that Omarosa is trying to make a book, let’s move on.
