With roughly 13 percent of the Democratic primary electorate voting “uncommitted” in Michigan the previous evening, the liberal ladies of ABC’s The View were in utter disarray Wednesday morning. They were at each other’s throats as they battled between condemning and accepting protest votes against President Biden during such a crucial election season. They also clashed over what the Arab protest voters wanted: Biden to abandon Israel and support for Hamas terrorists.
Moderator Whoopi Goldberg opened the conversation by flaunting her frustration that Democrats were not getting in line behind Biden. She lectured the protest voters that they were “in danger of seeming like a one-issue voter.” She lashed out by suggesting they were not living in the “real” world and they were disrespecting those who had fought for the right to vote (Click “expand”):
I understand you're upset, but either we'll fix it together or we're not. And the other guy is not going to fix it at all, so it is for me –
[Applause]
No, no, no it doesn't require that. I'm just saying, when you think about one issue votes, you have to realize that it – in the real – in our world, we're all sort of connected to all of this, so this isn't a one-issue vote. When we're talking about, listen, you don't have to like the person but you have the right to vote for the person that you want. That's all good, but to have a non-committed vote for me is -- is hard because I know how hard people fought to get the right to have their voices heard. Make your voice heard, but, you know, stand up for what you're saying.
Staunchly racist and anti-Semitic co-host Sunny Hostin (the descendant of slave owners) stood with the pro-Hamas voters in Michigan. “And this is something that I have been saying on this show, I know that I've been a singular voice here, but what the Biden administration has to understand is that young voters which first-time voters are very concerned about this issue,” she warned.
Directly addressing Goldberg’s chide that they were single-issue voters, Hostin argued: “[T]here are women that vote single issue. There are evangelicals that vote single issue. There are African Americans that vote single issue. So, this is no different.”
Hostin was also very adamant that Biden abandon Israel or else risk losing Michigan in November. “There are 300,000 of the Arab population in Michigan, and Trump carried Michigan in 2016 by about 11,000 votes,” she cautioned, completely ignoring how Biden could lose other critical states if he switched policies.
This triggered a five-way shouting match between co-hosts Goldberg, Hostin, Joy Behar, Alyssa Farah Griffin, and Sara Haines; with the latter two essentially arguing that Biden understood their message but disagreed because Hamas was obviously not a good-faith actor (Click “expand”):
GOLDBERG: Understood, understood. I understand all of that. I get it. That's how I feel when they put up the, you know, the nooses. That's how I feel when I hear young women -- yeah. If I then say, “You're not doing it fast enough for me, so I'm going to sit,” that doesn't help me. No, no, but –
HOSTIN: But they didn’t sit though. They voted.
GOLDBERG: Yeah, they did. They voted -- that's the same for me as sitting.
BEHAR: It’s a protest vote.
GOLDBERG: I get it. It doesn't change -- I'm sorry, doll. It doesn't change the fact that I think you either vote or you don't.
BEHAR: But how else could they get the message across to Biden? This is the way they did it.
HAINES: He got the message, you guys!
GOLDBERG: He got it! He's been doing this!
HAINES: He heard the message. He disagrees and so has Hillary Clinton and a lot of people who have lived and worked in the Middle East. There’s a problem here.
BEHAR: Disagree with what?
HAINES: Disagree with the policies. The Middle East is really complicated, right now. But you have a lot of rage at Israel -- the –
HOSTIN: They disagree with which policies?
[Crosstalk]
FARAH GRIFFIN: The ceasefire without releasing hostages.
BEHAR: Netanyahu's policy.
The shouting eventually shifted to Haines explaining to Hostin the obvious reasons why Hamas could not be trusted and was the problem (Click “expand”):
There was a ceasefire on October 6th. Every time there is a ceasefire it is attacked again by Hamas. Everyone blames Israel. Israel deserves some of the blame. There are a lot of deaths going on. Hamas is the one would will not release the hostages that they have.
(…)
They also have two dozen of bodies of hostages that have been killed. Hamas is the one holding Gaza completely under -- their schools are run by Hamas.
(…)
They have made $100 million. Hamas has made $100 million in funding, and they keep it for themselves. The suffering in Gaza is first and foremost due to Hamas.
Throughout the segment, Hostin repeatedly leaned on the United Nations as some sort of moral authority in the war. “But the U.N. is saying that Israel is committing war crimes!” she ignorantly shouted at Haines at one point. She also whined about U.N. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield vetoing resolutions to pressure Israel and not Hamas to the negotiating table.
Haines dropped the boom on Hostin, pointing out a fact that had gone unmentioned for weeks on the show: “[T]he U.N. also had agencies that had people that participated in October 7th. So, a lot of things being discovered about the U.N. and their own interests in this.”
“So, now the U.N. is under attack?!” Hostin freaked out. And amid a flare-up in crosstalk, Farah Griffin could be heard noting that “The U.N. is deeply anti-s[emetic]” and “has a long history of having more resolutions against Israel than North Korea and Iran and some of the worst human rights abusers on the planet.” Farah Griffin also defended Thomas-Greenfield by noting that she was “not voting for a ceasefire until the hostages are released.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
February 28, 2024
11:03:08 a.m. Eastern(…)
GOLDBERG: So, I mean, you know, the question people are asking is, what will this impact of these uncommitted voters be and have in the general election?
I personally don't know, but I have to tell you that you're in danger of seeming like a one-issue voter, and that's -- I'm pretty sure not where people are at. I understand you're upset. We talked about this yesterday. I understand you're upset, but either we'll fix it together or we're not. And the other guy is not going to fix it at all, so it is for me –
[Applause]
No, no, no it doesn't require that. I'm just saying, when you think about one issue votes, you have to realize that it – in the real – in our world, we're all sort of connected to all of this, so this isn't a one-issue vote. When we're talking about, listen, you don't have to like the person but you the right to vote for the person that you want. That's all good, but to have a non-committed vote for me is -- is hard because I know how hard people fought to get the right to have their voices heard. Make your voice heard, but, you know, stand up for what you're saying.
(…)
11:05:35 a.m. Eastern
HOSTIN: I think that – and this is what I was referring to yesterday, that they're not sitting on the couch. They're -- these are protest votes. These are votes, they're uncommitted votes and they're saying, “Hear us, listen to us. Hundreds of members of my family have been killed. Yes, that is my issue. That is my one issue. 30 people in my immediate family were killed, yet the United States is providing weapons and money to the people that killed my family, and I am an American citizen.” That is, I think, what the message was.
And this is something that I have been saying on this show, I know that I've been a singular voice here, but what the Biden administration has to understand is that young voters which first-time voters are very concerned about this issue. And when it comes to Michigan, if you look at the breakdown, 19 percent of those votes came from the University of Michigan. Young voters. In Ann Arbor – in East Lansing, home to Michigan State uncommitted got 15 percent of the vote.
There are 300,000 of the Arab population in Michigan, and Trump carried Michigan in 2016 by about 11,000 votes. They are telling you, “this issue matters, hear us.”
GOLDBERG: Understood, understood. I understand all of that. I get it. That's how I feel when they put up the, you know, the nooses. That's how I feel when I hear young women -- yeah. If I then say, “you're not doing it fast enough for me, so I'm going to sit,” that doesn't help me. No, no, but –
HOSTIN: But they didn’t sit though. They voted.
GOLDBERG: Yeah, they did. They voted -- that's the same for me as sitting.
JOY BEHAR: It’s a protest vote.
GOLDBERG: I get it. It doesn't change -- I'm sorry, doll. It doesn't change the fact that I think you either vote or you don't.
BEHAR: But how else could they get the message across to Biden? This is the way they did it.
SARA HAINES: He got the message, you guys!
GOLDBERG: He got it! He's been doing this!
HAINES: He heard the message. He disagrees and so has Hillary Clinton and a lot of people who have lived and worked in the Middle East. There’s a problem here.
BEHAR: Disagree with what?
HAINES: Disagree with the policies. Middle East is really complicated, right now. But you have a lot of rage at Israel -- the –
HOSTIN: They disagree with which policies?
[Crosstalk]
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: The ceasefire without releasing hostages.
BEHAR: Netanyahu's policy.
HAINES: There was a ceasefire on October 6th. Every time there is a ceasefire it is attacked again by Hamas. Everyone blames Israel. Israel deserves some of the blame. There are a lot of deaths going on. Hamas is the one would will not release the hostages that they have.
FARAH GRIFFIN: Including 6 Americans, right now.
HAINES: I don't care what they are. 130. They also have two dozen of bodies of hostages that have been killed. Hamas is the one holding Gaza completely under -- their schools are run by Hamas. Their medial—
HOSITN: But the U.N is saying that Israel is committing war crimes!
HAINES: They have made $100 million. Hamas has made $100 million in funding, and they keep it for themselves. The suffering in Gaza is first and foremost due to Hamas.
HOSTIN: But there is suffering.
HAINES: There is suffering. But my point here is: Biden heard everyone. He gets it. The thing he's doing is not reverse electing himself by saying, “What do you want? I'm going to go do that.” Some of it is, “I know what's right here and I’m going to stand true to that even in an election year and I love him for it.
[Crosstalk]
[Applause]
HOSTIN: If he doesn't get Michigan, if -- if he does not get Michigan because of this, then --
HAINES: Then those protesters will get Trump.
[Crosstalk]
BEHAR: Let Alyssa.
FARAH GRIFFIN: I want to take a rare moment to defend Joe Biden on this. There was a ceasefire, to your point, on October –
BEHAR: We just did.
FARAH GRIFFIN: But, I don't defend Joe Biden. There was a cease-fire. Since the terrorist attack against Israelis, Joe Biden has been working every single day to first get hostages released and then get a ceasefire. His National Security Council, his State Department. This notion that he's sitting on his hands and doesn't understand that there is carnage on both sides is absurd.
And I have to say, again we're going to agree today. Donald Trump is not an alternative for the Arab American community. They are talking about bringing back the Muslim ban. It is an absolute absurdity.
And there were voters I saw interviewed last night who said, “I'd be willing to support Trump over him” or “I’m not going to turn out.” What Biden needs to do is not reverse policy here. He needs to communicate to these people, “We see you, we hear you, we are calling on the Israelis to have as few casualties –
[Crosstalk]
GOLDBERG: Didn't he just say – Sorry, go ahead
HOSTIN: He just did say that he was working towards a ceasefire; Blinken has indicated that hopefully this ceasefire is going to happen next week and I think he heard these people.
GOLDBERG: He's been hearing them. He's been hearing them.
HOSTIN: And I think there will be a change in policy, but at the moment what these voters, these single-issue voters which there are women that vote single issue. There are evangelicals that vote single issue.
GOLDBERG: And we kvetch at them every time!
HOSTIN: There are African Americans that vote single issue. So, this is no different. And what I will say is: when you have your U.N. ambassador voting -- being the deciding vote against a ceasefire every single time, the world has noticed that this is happening!
HAINES: Because the U.N. also had agencies that had people that participated in October 7th. So, a lot of things being discovered about the U.N. and their own interests in this –
HOSTIN: So, now the U.N. is under attack?!
[Crosstalk]
FARAH GRIFFIN: The U.N. is deeply anti-s[emetic]
[Crosstalk]
FARAH GRIFFIN: The U.N. has a long history of having more resolutions against Israel than North Korea and Iran and some of the worst human rights abusers on the planet. And her point, the ambassador's point is: “I'm not voting for a ceasefire until the hostages are released.”
(…)
