Up in arms that possible House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) promised to strip extremist Democrats of their committee assignments when/if he becomes speaker of the House, including Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, The View took to downplaying her rabid anti-Semitism on Tuesday and giving a full-throated defense of her anti-American comments comparing the United States to terrorist groups like Hamas and the Taliban.
Despite admitting that Omar had used disparaging tropes about the Jews and money, racist co-host Sunny Hostin whined that McCarthy’s repeated references to them were somehow harmful “tropes” against her. “She committed to learning more. We’ve never heard her say anything like that again,” she falsely declared, pointing to their midterm win percentages as a bizarre argument against McCarthy.
Hostin then tried to use her big brain to hint that McCarthy attacking Omar, a popular politician on the left, was somehow racist code for the Republican base:
So, I think it's very interesting that the people he chooses to attack are the very same people that he thinks his base wants attacked. That says something about where the Republican Party is today.
In recent months, co-host Sara Haines has become the only cast member willing to stand up to Hostin when she’s spewing nonsense. And she did it again in this instance as she called out how Omar had compared the U.S. and Israel to the terrorist organizations of Hamas and the Taliban.
Hostin and co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar immediately jumped to Omar’s defense arguing that what she said was true “depending on who you talk to”:
GOLDBERG: It depends on who you talk to.
HAINES: I mean, that’s how they’re recognized as terrorist organizations.
HOSTIN: But it does depend on who you talk to.
JOY BEHAR: Well, they’re recognized in this country.
HAINES: The thing is, when you're talking about –
Haines was then interrupted by Hostin who tried to shut down the conversation entirely, suggesting they couldn’t talk about it unless they had a Middle East expert at the table. “When we talk at the Middle East, I think we need to have Middle Eastern experts like someone from Palestine, someone from Israel, someone that is Muslim,” she proclaimed
Luckily, Goldberg permitted Haines to “finish her point.” Haines proceeded to call out how Omar for refusing to recognize the Armenian Genocide:
What I was saying was that there have been votes she's voted on that I would say some of that plays into. There were actually in Syria and the Armenians that were killed, it was a genocide, she voted “present,” which is essentially voting “no.”
“And so, she talks a lot about the people being massacred but then there’s been two votes where she wasn't voting in a way that I would want voted on that committee to vote,” she said.
Self-describe Republican co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said she didn’t trust Omar on the Foreign Affairs Committee because of her “lack of understanding on certain geopolitical politics.” But Hostin snapped back at her, suggesting Omar simply had “a different understanding of geopolitics because of who she is.”
Hostin went on to defend Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell (CA) over his relationship with a known Chinese spy, Fang Fang. “His relationship with Fang, who was, I believe a spy, he was investigated by the FBI and no wrongdoing was found. And that’s the other piece that seems to get lost whenever Republicans use those talking points,” she sneered.
This defense of anti-Americanism was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Purina and CarFax. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
November 22, 2022
11:04:46 a.m. Eastern(…)
SUNNY HOSTIN: I was disappointed with was sort of the tropes. Right? He constantly attacks Ilhan Omar. And yes, she made that comment – “all about the Benjamins” comment. And then Nancy Pelosi pulled her, you know, coat tail and said, “Let me tell you something that you're going to apologize for.” And she did apologize!
At the time, she said that, “anti-Semitism is real. I’m grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painfully history of anti-Semitic tropes. My intention is to never offend my constituents or Jewish-Americans as a whole. This why I unequivocally apologize.”
She committed to learning more. We’ve never heard her say anything like that again. And she is actually more popular in her district than Kevin McCarthy is in his. She got 75 percent of the vote, and he got 67 percent of the vote.
So, I think it's very interesting that the people he chooses to attack are the very same people that he thinks his base wants attacked. That says something about where the Republican Party is today.
SARA HAINES: One of the things that Representative Ilhan Omar said that did bother in 2021, she tweeted something comparing the U.S., Israel, and the Taliban as all terrorist organizations. And she has maybe way more knowledge and experience in the very complicated Middle Eastern relations, but I did find being on a foreign committee and comparing the country to a terrorist – a known terrorist – those are organized terrorist communities, not Israel, but Hamas and the Taliban --
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: It depends on who you talk to.
HAINES: I mean, that’s how they’re recognized as terrorist organizations.
HOSTIN: But it does depend on who you talk to.
JOY BEHAR: Well, they’re recognized in this country.
HAINES: The thing is, when you're talking about –
HOSTIN (interrupting): And that’s why I think we always – when we talk at the Middle East, I think we need to have Middle Eastern experts like someone from Palestine, someone from Israel, someone that is Muslim.
GOLDBERG: Right.
HOSTIN: I don’t think that we can sort of get into that kind of discussion about that.
GOLDBERG: No, but I want her to finish her point.
HAINES: What I was saying was that, there have been votes she's voted on that I would say some of that plays into. There were actually in Syria and the Armenians that were killed, it was a genocide, she voted “present,” which is essentially voting “no.” And so, she talks a lot about the people being massacred but then there’s been two votes where she wasn't voting in a way that I would want voted on that committee to vote.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: I’m personally not comfortable with her on Foreign Affairs either. I think she should be on other committees—
HAINES: Yeah! Other committees are fine! I don’t mind—
FARAH GRIFFIN: But she’s shown a lack of understanding on certain geopolitical politics. And, of course, she is a refugee – she’s a Somalian refugee. Maybe on those issues she has some personal—
HOSTIN: Maybe not a lack of understanding but a different understanding of geopolitics because of who she is, she's Somalian, and where she comes from.
HAINES: Different experiences. Different lived experiences.
GOLDBERG: And how she's been treated.
HOSTIN: A different lens.
But I will say this about Swalwell: his relationship with Fang, who was, I believe a spy, he was investigated by the FBI and no wrongdoing was found. And that’s the other piece that seems to get lost whenever Republicans use those talking points.
(…)
