Poor Joy Behar! Friday was her 80th birthday and they had to spend part of her special day trying to defend President Biden after he announced that his administration was building 20 miles of border wall, breaking his campaign promise that he would halt former President Trump’s project. Most of the cast was in damage control mode as they argued that his hands were tied.
Proving it was her party and she’d cry if she wanted to, Behar opened the segment by whining about how “they” were making him build the wall and he couldn’t re-appropriate the funds. She also flaunted her ignorance of basic American civics and how Congress controlled the power of the purse:
BEHAR: Who are “they?” Isn't he in charge of the country?
ANA NAVARRO: No, Congress appropriates the funds.
BEHAR: Well, why can’t – So, he can't get Congress to get that money and use that for something else?
SUNNY HOSTIN: It’d be difficult. There are two ways that he could do it. One way he could do it is to defer it, but he would have to provide for contingencies, he would have to achieve budgetary savings made possible through improved operational efficiency – and that would be specifically provided by law – or he could get recessions from Congress, which is never going to happen.
Behar went on to suggest they should take the money allocated for the wall and just hand it out to illegal immigrants. “Right, they could use the money to help the migrants who are here already,” she huffed. “No, they can’t. They can't redirect the funds,” faux-conservative co-host Ana Navarro had to re-explain to her.
“First of all, Mexico didn't pay for it. Right? So, we're paying for it as American taxpayers. And that was Trump's promise,” racist co-host Sunny Hostin chided. She then cited world-renowned border security experts “Jay-Z and Kanye West,” who told her “years ago, people will dig under the wall and fly over the wall.”
Co-host Sara Haines did most of the heavy lifting in arguing “Biden's hands are tied” and complained about how terribly the White House communications team handled the optics. She wanted them to put Joe “real talk guy” Biden “on a mic right away” to explain: “This is not my wall. This is Congress' wall. It was appropriated in 2019. I'd literally be committing a crime by disobeying this. And we have a lot of that already happening, so we're going to go ahead follow the law.”
She also didn’t want him taking questions, because what he did say to the press, “didn't come out strong and thought the messaging looked weak and was confusing.” She lamented, “That's how [Republicans] keep winning” on the border issue.
For Navarro’s rant, she decried Democrats for spending too much time going after Biden for the border wall and not enough time “tooting their own horns” with the jobs numbers. After claiming the 20 miles of border wall was nothing, she suggested there was only “a perception in Latin America that this administration is more open to immigration to undocumented immigration,” and that wasn’t really the case.
And for what it’s worth, co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin burst their bubble when she informed viewers “this passed through a bipartisan act of Congress when Nancy Pelosi was speaker, so Democrats supported this appropriation that he's now facing.” She also told them Biden’s Homeland Security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas was advocating for a border wall.
This was a birthday gift Behar probably wished she could return.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
October 6, 2023
11:03:42 a.m. Eastern(…)
JOY BEHAR: Okay, but yesterday it was announced he's resuming construction of the wall. Yeah. So here's why he says his hands are tied. Take a look.
[Cuts to video]
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Money was appropriated for the border wall. I tried to get them to re-appropriate – redirect that money. They didn't. They wouldn't. And in the meantime, there's nothing under the law other than they have to use the money for what it was appropriated. I can't stop that.
SELINA WANG (ABC): Do you believe a border wall works?
BIDEN: No.
[Cuts back to live]
BEHAR: Who are “they?” Isn't he in charge of the country?
ANA NAVARRO: No, Congress appropriates the funds.
BEHAR: Well, why can’t – So, he can't get Congress to get that money use that for something else?
SUNNY HOSTIN: It’d be difficult. There are two ways that he could do it. One way he could do it is to defer it, but he would have to provide for contingencies, he would have to achieve budgetary savings made possible through improved operational efficiency – and that would be specifically provided by law – or he could get recessions from Congress, which is never going to happen.
I think what’s so interesting about this building of the wall – First of all, Mexico didn't pay for it. Right? So, we're paying for it as American taxpayers. And that was Trump's promise. And the other thing is, you know, Jay-Z and Kanye West said years ago, people will dig under the wall and fly over the wall. So, I don't know why when everyone agrees this is not effective that we would spend this much money on an uneffective – ineffective measure.
BEHAR: Right, they could use the money to help the migrants who are here already.
NAVARRO: No, they can’t. They can't redirect the funds.
[Crosstalk]
BEHAR: That's crazy.
ALYSSA AFARH GRIFFIN: But it’s important to know this passed through a bipartisan act of Congress when Nancy Pelosi was speaker, so Democrats supported this appropriation that he's now facing. It's not like this came from a bunch of right wingers and he wants to send it back.
But here's the reality: There's a crisis at the southern border. What your answer is on the solution may differ but Alejandro Mayorkas, Biden's own DHS secretary, said with regard to the border wall and “there's an acute and immediate need to construct a physical barrier.” So, DHS and the White House do not seem to be communicating on this issue and simply saying, “I can't do anything” while your DHS secretary moves forward to me is unsustainable.
(…)
11:06:48 a.m. Eastern
SARA HAINES: I had to read pretty far to get to the point to that realize Biden's hands are tied. Now, how I would have come out and handled that is: One, I'd put Biden on the mic right away. He’s a real talk guy. Put him on a mic and say, “We're not going to take questions on this, but I got to be straight with you. This is not my wall. This is congress' wall. It was appropriated in 2019. I'd literally be committing a crime by disobeying this. And we have a lot of that already happening, so we're going to go ahead follow the law.”
But at that moment they could have said they need environmental changes to it. They were going to blow it up and he added a Biden touch to it which is a good thing. And then say, “But at the end of the day if you're mad, look at Congress.” It didn't come out strong and thought the messaging looked weak and was confusing. And that's how they keep winning.
NAVARRO: Look, part of the reason the messaging is bad I think from Democrats – and I agree with you that they could do a lot better in tooting their own horns – today the job numbers came out. They are astounding! 330-something-thousand more new jobs. And Democrats in Congress, a lot of them instead of focusing on that and celebrating that, the accomplishments are talking about 20 miles of wall.
So, let me put it in context. The border with Mexico is 1,954 miles long. This is a 20-mile segment which makes it one percent basically of that border.
Look, I think a lot of this did not about reality. I think it's about symbolism and perception. There is a problem. There's a perception in Latin America that this administration is more open to immigration to undocumented immigration. I think they are trying to send a strong message and it's not just with the wall. Yesterday. they made some sort of deal – I don't know what it is, I want to hear what it is – with Venezuela with the dictator in Venezuela Maduro and they're going to start deporting Venezuelans. Because the four countries sending the most immigrants are Haiti, which is a disaster, Nicaragua, a dictatorship, Cuba, a dictatorship, Venezuela, a dictatorship.
The United States can't fix Latin Americans' dictatorships. We have to.
(…)
