Doing their part to endanger our country on Wednesday, the cackling coven of ABC’s The View largely defended White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and her denialism that former President Donald Trump legitimately won the 2016 election. Although, unusual battle lines were drawn as co-host Sunny Hostin took on co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar. But co-host Sara Haines argued that it’s “always okay” to “question” and “challenge” election results.
After playing a soundbite of Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy pressing Jean-Pierre on her election denialism tweets, Goldberg defended the Press Secretary by saying it didn’t count because “she was not an elected official.”
Goldberg also declared that Jean-Pierre “was doing her part as an American citizen saying how she felt about an election. Whether you like it or not, everybody talks about everybody has the right [to] freedom of speech.”
“Doing her part?” What is this, Starship Troopers? Goldberg’s argument itself was an exercise in hypocrisy as she and The View have attacked and smeared Ginni Thomas, a private citizen who just happens to be married to Justice Clarence Thomas, for her past beliefs about the 2020 election.
Hostin was quick to counter her co-host. At first, it seemed like she was going to agree as she invoked “whataboutism” and said “people were so very shocked” that Trump had won in 2016. But she called herself out and admitted she had done something wrong: “But I remember calling him an illegitimate president, and that was wrong.”
Behar and Goldberg were bewildered by Hostin’s admission and proceeded to argue that she was in the right to call Trump’s win “illegitimate”:
BEHAR: Why?
HOSTIN: I should not have said that. He was not an illegitimate president.
GOLDBERG: But that's how you felt! You had every right to say it!
Behar suggested there was “good reason” to investigate the 2016 election and call Trump “illegitimate.” But Hostin surprisingly pushed back hard against Behar’s lies that Trump could have been in direct control by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin:
BEHAR: You were not wrong.
HOSTIN: But the campaign did not coordinate with the Russians, and that's where I think I was wrong, and I think --
BEHAR: You don't know that. But you don't know that he wasn't talking to Putin.
“There was an investigation, and we have to believe that when the FBI and the Department of Justice conducts investigations, we have to believe that that is another tenant of our democracy,” Hostin exclaimed.
Bringing things back to Jean-Pierre, Goldberg reiterated her initial point: “This is about what she said as a private citizen … she wasn't even on television. She was a private citizen, and that's how she felt which is what freedom of speech is.” This argument is a lie because Jean-Pierre was a talking head on MSNBC.
“Conservative” Alyssa Farah Griffin noted that Democrats like Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Hillary Clinton engaged in election denialism over 2016, but beclowned herself again by arguing what they did was “a far cry from what Donald Trump did.”
For Haines’s part, she gave a greenlight for election denialism from Democrats only. “I think it's always okay to question an election and it’s okay to challenge an election,” she insisted. “We had that with Al Gore in 2000, Hillary Clinton in 2016. We had that with Jean-Pierre, who goes on to say in this clip, I also accepted the results.”
This support for elections denialism for Democrats was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Sandals and Procter & Gamble. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
September 7, 2022
11:03:34 a.m.(…)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Let's also remember that she was part of MoveOn.org. She was not an elected official.
JOY BEHAR: That's right.
GOLDBERG: She was doing her part as an American citizen saying how she felt about an election. Whether you like it or not, everybody talks about everybody has the right [to] freedom of speech. So, that's the difference.
Let's discuss, you know, kind of some of the folks that, you know, are in office now who have denied that -- that -- my goodness. Forgive me, that Biden is president. I mean, it’s just – I get so frustrated because I think, this is not apples and Oranges. This is apples and basketballs. There's no comparison here.
SUNNY HOSTIN: You know, I will say I do -- I don't like whataboutism. I never have, you know, “well, you did this so I'm going to do this” or “remember when you did that.”
But I will say that when Trump became president, I think people were so very shocked, even considering the Electoral College and that sort of thing. The assumption was, at least mine, and I'll speak for myself that Russia must have been involved because we knew that from the Mueller report that Russia had some involvement. Russia could have benefitted from a Trump presidency, which it did by the way. But I remember calling him an illegitimate president, and that was wrong.
BEHAR: Why?
HOSTIN: I should not have said that. He was not an illegitimate president.
GOLDBERG: But that's how you felt! You had every right to say it!
HOSTIN: Well, that is how I felt. However, he remains a twice impeached, disgraced, one-term president. All of that is true.
[Crosstalk]
BEHAR: Okay. I have something to respond to that. So, there was good reason to investigate Russian interference into the 2016 election. Here's why.
HOSTIN: Say that again?
BEHAR: There was good reason to investigate Russian intervention.
HOSTIN: Yes. Yes.
BEHAR: The 2020 bipartisan report from the Senate Intelligence Committee which was headed by little Marco Rubio. One of his boys, right? This is what they found. The committee found that the Russian government engaged in an aggressive, multifaceted effort to influence of attempt to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
HOSTIN: Yes.
BEHAR: You were not wrong.
HOSTIN: But the campaign did not coordinate with the Russians, and that's where I think I was wrong, and I think --
BEHAR: You don't know that. But you don't know that he wasn't talking to Putin.
HOSTIN: There was an investigation, and we have to believe that when the FBI and the Department of Justice conducts investigations, we have to believe that that is another tenant of our democracy.
GOLDBERG: We’re missing the point here. This is about what she said as a private citizen. Let's not forget she was a private -- she wasn't even on television. She was a private citizen, and that's how she felt which is what freedom of speech is.
HOSTIN (to Alyssa Farah Griffin): I mean, do you feel you work for an illegitimate president? You did work for a disgraceful president. But you didn’t work for an illegitimate one.
{crosstalk]
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: No. I think it's incredibly important. Right now trust in our election processes is at a record low. Trust in the democratic process that keeps this country together for 200 years is at an all-time low. I think it is important that, you know, very prominent Democrats did say in 2016, Nancy Pelosi called Donald Trump an illegitimate president.
GOLDBERG [interrupting]: Right, but he [Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy] wasn’t talking about Nancy Pelosi. He's talking about her.
FARAH GRIFFIN: I agree. Now, that is a far cry from what Donald Trump did, which was refuse to level office, storm the capitol, incite a mob. I am not equating those.
But I think we all have a duty say, if our systems worked, if there was not enough fraud found to overturn an election, or there was not a coherent case by DOJ on why Russia changed the results of an election because they didn't, we have to accept the results. If we want this great experiment of democracy to stand.
GOLDBERG: I mean, they did. I'm sorry. Everybody did accept it. We did accept it. We didn't like it, be we accepted it. Go ahead, baby.
[Crosstalk]
SARA HAINES: Aside from the detail Whoopi brings up about a regular citizen working for MoveOn.org vs a president. I think it's always okay to question an election and it’s okay to challenge an election. But eventually you get results from those investigations, the system flexing and working, and then you accept those. We had that with Al Gore in 2000, Hillary Clinton in 2016. We had that with Jean-Pierre, who goes on to say in this clip, I also accepted the results.
That is part of the very different thing that has now been -- it has been 673 days since the election that is still being denied by the former president.
HOSTIN: And that's the problem.
HAINES: That's the problem.
FARAH GRIFFIN: And sorry. Let me clarify one thing. It was Nancy Pelosi who said 2016 was hijacked. It was Hillary Clinton, who we'll all be hearing from later today, who said he was illegitimate. This is something she's spoken to since then. Again, this is apples and basketballs.
HAINES: She conceded.
FARAH GRIFFIN: She conceded. That is the difference. And that is what people are trying to recognize today.
BEHAR: But they're bringing this up right now because they’re worried about the midterms because Kansas has shown them that women are registering in record numbers because of the overthrowing of Roe v. Wade and they're scared now they're going to lose the House and the Senate.
[Applause]
Thank you. That's why they're bringing it up. Why is Peter Doocy all of a sudden bringing this up out of the blue?! Give me a break! We're onto you, Peter!
FARAH GRIFFIN: Standing up for democracy and the credibility of our elections is so important and that's why I think it's also wrong when Democrats put money behind Republican election deniers. That is playing a dangerous game.
[Crosstalk]
BEHAR: That’s a tactic!
GOLDBERG: I’m sorry. I'm sorry, y'all.
BEHAR: That is a tactic.
GOLDBERG: This is -- calm down now.
BEHAR: It's politics.
GOLDBERG: We'll be right back.
