Election misinformation has been a specialty for ABC’s The View; for instance, last year they defended election denialism of the 2016 results from Democrats. On Thursday, they were back at it with attacks on Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and her district with dangerous lies about it being “gerrymandered.” They also insisted voters were not having their voices heard in elections.
During a conversation about a study that found the most incendiary politicians got most of the screen time in the media, of course, Greene was The View’s target to take swipes at instead of someone on the liberal side of the aisle.
“I think there's kind of a misperception that people who are TV as Republicans are actually the Republicans doing the work in Congress,” whined faux Republican co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin. After rattling off three “bipartisan” Republicans she liked, she boasted: “[T]hey're in swing districts who have to actually earn their seats. Which means they have to deliver results for Republicans and Democrats.”
Farah Griffin then teamed up with the ever-ignorant Joy Behar to baselessly claim Greene’s district, Georgia's 14th district, was gerrymandered by Republicans to give themselves an advantage in an area they otherwise wouldn’t:
BEHAR: And she doesn't, right? She doesn’t.
FARAH GRIFFIN: She doesn't pass bills. Marjorie Taylor Greene is not a legislator.
BEGHAR: But she doesn't have to earn the seat, she’s gerrymandered in.
FARAH GRIFFIN: She doesn't. She’s in a hyper-partisan, gerrymandered district.
HOSTIN: Right.
FARAH GRIFFIN: She could literally just sit there for the rest of her life and hold it.
“The biggest issue is partisan gerrymandering. It is destroying congress from working,” Farah Griffin huffed. “But makes these members who never have to actually have to face constituents who disagree with them.”
When the term “gerrymander” is used, it conjures images of a district that is weirdly formed to snake around and connect dissimilar and distant parts of a state. But looking at a map of Georgia’s congressional districts, we see GA-14 tucked in the state’s northwest corner.
As of the writing of this piece, GA-14 is made up of 11 counties (Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Floyd, Gordon, Murray, Paulding, Polk, Walker, Whitefield, and only a little piece of Cobb with the rest being whole). And according to a Politico map of the 2020 results in Georgia, Trump won handily in all but Cobb, where President Biden won with 56.3 percent. In the rest of the counties, Trump’s percentages ranged from 63.9 to 84.1.
And despite the FACTS, Behar seemed to suggest the supposed gerrymandering was stifling a groundswell of anti-Greene opposition. “[T]hese people are gerrymandered into their positions so that the voting doesn’t count in Marjorie Taylor Greene’s district,” she proclaimed without evidence.
In 2022, Greene won reelection with 65.86 percent of the vote. If that’s gerrymandered, they need to look at Greene’s Democratic colleague Hank Johnson, who represents GA-4 which includes parts of the Atlanta metro area. He won reelection with 78.49 percent.
Racist Sunny Hostin called the supposed gerrymandering “shameful” and whined that Democrats have not focused on busting the district. “And that’s why I think Democrats needed to concentrate very much so on voting rights and the gerrymandering. And they weren’t concentrating on it enough,” she lamented.
Still ignorant of the district’s voting history, co-host Whoopi Goldberg demanded that residents of the district rise up and remove Greene from office. “So, all you guys voting for Marjorie Taylor Greene, she's not helping you. She's not helping your district. It's time to make the adjustment. You have the power to do that. You can change what this woman is doing,” she shouted.
Goldberg doesn’t know if Greene was helping the residents of GA-14 or not. That’s up to them to decide. And after a primary with five challengers, they reelected her against a Democratic opponent.
The View’s dangerous misinformation about GA-14 being gerrymandered was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from JCPenney and Procter & Gamble. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
March 16, 2023
11:03:10 a.m. Eastern(…)
JOY BEHAR: They don't have any policies on the Republican side that I can see. Are there any policies?
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: That's where I take a little bit of issue. I think there's kind of a misperception that people who are TV as Republicans are actually the Republicans doing the work in Congress. Every one of these members listed: Brian Fitzpatrick, Don Bacon, Gus Bilirakis these are bipartisan members – and by the way, they're in swing districts who have to actually earn their seats. Which means they have to deliver results for Republicans and Democrats.
BEHAR: And she [Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene R-GA] doesn't, right? She doesn’t.
FARAH GRIFFIN: She doesn't pass bills. Marjorie Taylor Greene is not a legislator.
SUNNY HOSTIN: She’s like this tiny little [trails off]
BEGHAR: But she doesn't have to earn the seat, she’s gerrymandered in.
FARAH GRIFFIN: She doesn't. She’s in a hyper-partisan, gerrymandered district.
HOSTIN: Right.
FARAH GRIFFIN: She could literally just sit there for the rest of her life and hold it.
The biggest issue is partisan gerrymandering. It is destroying congress from working. It happens on the left and right. But makes these members who never have to actually have to face constituents who disagree with them.
SARA HAINES: I heard votes even her highly gerrymandered district have gone down six figures from her first election to her second. So, she's even losing her hyper-partisan electorate.
(…)
11:05:21 a.m. Eastern
GOLDBERG: As a nation, we have -- we have an ability to make decisions and make the right people -- put the right people where they're supposed to be.
BEHAR: That's a very good argument. You make it often about the voters have the power. But what she’s saying is that these people are gerrymandered into their positions so that the voting doesn’t count in Marjorie Taylor Greene’s district.
HOSTIN: Which is shameful. And that’s why I think Democrats needed to concentrate very much so on voting rights and the gerrymandering. And they weren’t concentrating on it enough.
(…)
11:07:11 a.m. Eastern
GOLDBERG: So, all you guys voting for Marjorie Taylor Greene, she's not helping you. She's not helping your district. It's time to make the adjustment. You have the power to do that. You can change what this woman is doing.
(…)
