The View: Dems 'Don't Control' Corporations, GOP 'Screwed Up Economy'

October 20th, 2022 3:17 PM

On Thursday, the cast of The View rhetorically flipped off ABC’s Standards and Practices division as they took a trip to fantasyland and spewed a whole bunch of disinformation about the economy and who’s responsible for the bad shape it’s in. Between Joy Behar claiming Republicans screwed up the economy and Sunny Hostin ludicrously asserting no Democrats lead corporations, the truth was brutally murdered on the stage.

The conversation was sparked by Whoopi Goldberg’s obsession with the false claims of Democratic Congresswoman Katie Porter (CA) about oil companies price gouging, despite the fact the Federal Trade Commission's attempts have come up empty. And according to Goldberg, the Democrats are not having a messaging problem but rather, “the media is not reporting any of this.”

“I don't understand why we have to say, lower the gas prices. You didn't have to raise them. You were making -- what the hell?!” she screamed. “Blame the media. Blame the media,” Joy Behar encouraged her.

Behar then went on a hate-fueled, fact-free screed against Republicans. “The Republicans historically have screwed up the economy. This is some kind of a myth that Republicans are better at the economy,” she whined. Without evidence, she claimed 13 of America’s last 17 recessions have been triggered by Republicans.

Included in that number were 1981 (of course, she disregarded how President Carter’s policies handed that to President Reagan) and 2020 (despite a global pandemic causing that artificial one). And, of course, they refused to admit that we were currently in President Biden’s recession, caused by his massive, runaway spending.

 

 

“Every time the Republicans are in office, the deficit goes up. Then the Democrats have to come in and sweep it all up and fix it all up,” Behar proclaimed. She then went back to her now-routine bashing of struggling Americans: “And [Democrats] lose because people, like, I don't know what they're thinking right now, and then the Dems have to come in and fix it again.”

And while weak Republican co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin invited her co-hosts to blame Republicans, she did drop a key fact none of them wanted in Americans’ heads as they go to the polls: “Democrats control everything, and real Americans are struggling right now.”

This inconvenient truth triggered Sunny Hostin and Sara Haines, who desperately tried to deflect. The former put out a massive pants-on-fire lie, ridiculously claiming: “Democrats don't control corporations” while Republicans are “controlled by corporations.”

But, of course, Democrats control corporations. In fact, according to a breakdown from The Wall Street Journal, nine of the 10 largest political donors in 2016 gave to The View’s favorite politician: Hillary Clinton; to the tune of $86.7 million.

And as MRC Business assistant editor Joseph Vazquez has documented, former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent $100 million in 2020 in an attempt to float Biden in Florida and $20 million on down-ballot races. Hedge fund billionaire Tom Steyer also spent $342 million on his own Democratic presidential campaign in 2020.

That’s not to mention the likes of George Soros and the heads of tech corporations like Jeff Bezos (Amazon and The Washington Post), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), and Tim Cook (Apple). All are liberal Democrats.

For Haines’s part, she didn’t like hearing the fact Democrats control the levers of government because “the Senate is so close, so nothing can get passed.” She then demanded that Democrats adopt a radical “wartime” policy to confiscate money via an “excess profit tax” (Click “expand”):

HAINES: And right now the solution to Sunny’s point about corporations and the government not controlling [Democrats], one thing they could do is implement a temporary excess profit tax, and they've done that before in the history of this country during wartimes.

GOLDBERG: Yep.

HAINES: Bernie Sanders tried to get it past, but I think he might have gone too high on the percentage. But that is something.

As they were nearing the end of the conversation, Farah Griffin popped their bubble regarding the deceptively titled “Inflation Reduction Act.” “[N]ow we’re seeing it raises taxes and hasn't decreased inflation. Like, you can call a bill anything but if that’s not something people feel in their pockets,” she noted.

Goldberg didn’t appreciate hearing facts and defended Biden by suggesting corporations were sinking it. “Well, inflation is not going to decrease no matter what you do until THEY decide that they're going to take less, and that is a huge problem,” she huffed.

These delusions passed off as facts were made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Vicks and Angi. Their contact information is linked.

The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:

ABC’s The View
October 20, 2022
11:05:24 a.m. Eastern

(…)

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: One of the things that has been making me crazy is when people say, “why don't the Democrats get the message out?” I figured out that it's not the Democrats who are having the problem; the media is not reporting any of this. Because I came across this information yesterday out of the blue, and I thought, if you tell me that we had two years of not working. Nobody was working. We got some help from the government to make sure we could pay our rent, take care of business.

And now y'all are raising the prices of stuff when you don't have to. When you have enough money to lower and still maintain what you got, I don't understand -- like, I don't -- like, I don't understand. I don't understand why we have to say, lower the gas prices. You didn't have to raise them. You were making -- what the hell?!

JOY BEHAR: Blame the media. Blame the media.

GOLDBERG: I am blaming them because this is information that should be out, and it's not.

BEHAR: Corporations are going to do what they do to make more money. It has to be reported. That's the only thing you can do really.

And can I just say one thing –

GOLDBERG: You can say everything.

BEHAR: I know it's your birthday, but --

SUNNY HOSTIN: Yeah.

BEHAR: The Republicans historically have screwed up the economy. This is some kind of a myth that Republicans are better at the economy. The United States has had 17 recessions in the past hundred years. 13 of them have been under Republicans, okay? And the great depression and the recessions we can remember, 1981, 2007, 2020 were all under Republicans!

Every time the Republicans are in office, the deficit goes up. Then the Democrats have to come in and sweep it all up and fix it all up, and they lose because people, like, I don't know what they're thinking right now, and then the Dems have to come in and fix it again. That is what is happening.

Go ahead.

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: I would just say, blame whoever you want whether it's corporations or Republicans. Democrats control everything, and real Americans are struggling right now.

(…)

11:07:53 a.m. Eastern

HOSTIN: But Democrats don't control corporations. And actually, what generally happens is that when Republicans get into office, they are controlled by corporations and they give corporate tax breaks.

[Applause]

BEHAR: Right. That's right.

HOSTIN: Corporations never pay their fair share on Republicans.

[Applause]

And the other thing that I think is fascinating to your point, if you look at it, the average income of Americans would be more than double its current level if the economy had somehow grown at the Democratic rate for all of the past nine decades. That is a Republican problem, not a democratic problem.

SARA HAINES: So listen, when you say they [Democrats] control everything, the issue I have with that is we can't seem to get any movement because the Senate is so close, so nothing can get passed. And right now the solution to Sunny’s point about corporations and the government not controlling them, one thing they could do is implement a temporary excess profit tax, and they've done that before in the history of this country during wartimes.

GOLDBERG: Yep.

HAINES: Bernie Sanders tried to get it past, but I think he might have gone too high on the percentage. But that is something.

When you think about how we all adapt and adjust on the ground to everything and we're struggling for food and gas, I feel like corporations, even in a free market should have to do their part too.

GOLDBERG: They have to. Yeah.

FARAH GRIFFIN: But by the way, Democrats were able on some bipartisan basis to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, but now we’re seeing it raises taxes and hasn't decreased inflation. Like, you can call a bill anything but if that’s not something people feel in their pockets

GOLDBERG: Well, inflation is not going to decrease no matter what you do until THEY decide that they're going to take less, and that is a huge problem.

(…)