Shortly before ABC’s The View went to air, word was finally announced that both the Biden and Trump campaigns agreed to two debates; one with CNN in June and one in September with ABC. But it was two demands made by Team Biden that had captured most everyone’s interest: no audiences and mics would be cut off. Of course, the liberal ladies of The View cheered the rules with one saying the quiet part out loud and admitting that an audience would hurt President Biden.
After spending several minutes bragging about being at a Disney party the previous night, the cast finally got around to talking about the debate. And the first thing they did was share how relieved they were that Biden’s demands were agreed to:
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Here's what I really appreciate. Biden is saying, no audience.
JOY BEHAR: Good.
GOLDBERG: And that the mics must be cut once -
SARA HAINES: I love this.
GOLDBERG: -- the time to answer the question has expired.
SUNNY HOSTIN: Yes.
[Cheers and applause]
No one questioned the suspicious timing of the announce since it came shortly after the Biden campaign put out a highly edited video of the President challenging Trump to exactly two debates. But faux-conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin proclaimed, “It was smart of Biden to get ahead of this by challenging Trump and I think it's a recognition that they're neck and neck in the polls.”
Of course, she was completely ignoring the fact that Trump had challenged Biden to debate weeks ago after becoming the presumptive Republican nominee. But who’s counting?
Farah Griffin praised the “roadblocks” as “critical” and argued that “cutting off the mics is the most important or it can descend into absolute chaos.”
Staunchly racist and anti-Semitic co-host Sunny Hostin (the descendant of slave owners) proclaimed that “Biden clearly has the edge” because he could cite the charges brought against Trump by Democratic D.A.s and his Justice Department:
HOSTIN: Every answer starts with, “well, my opponent, who has been criminally convicted.”
BEHAR: That's right.
HOSTIN: Or, “Well, my opponent who’s facing--”
BEHAR: Impeached.
HOSTIN: “Who has been twice impeached.” “My opponent, who is facing three other criminal trials.” I mean, it's gold. It's very easy.
Co-host Joy Behar was confused and didn’t seem to understand that Trump had already agreed to the debates. “I don't think that Biden should have projected that he wants no audience and the mic should be cut off,” she fretted. “But it gives [Trump] a way to get out of it by saying ‘Look, I’m not doing it without an audience.’”
Here's 2 1/2 minutes of Joy Behar not understanding that there will not be an audience at the CNN debate and that Trump already agreed to it.
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) May 15, 2024
She declared Trump is "going to stack the audience with Trumpers."
The rest of the cast had to repeatedly tell her Trump already agreed to… pic.twitter.com/JSElATKAKl
The rest of the cast had to repeatedly tell her Trump already agreed to it, but it didn’t sink in for a couple of minutes (Click “expand”):
BEHAR: We were talking about the debates and I wanted to say that I don't think that Biden should have projected that he wants no audience and the mic should be cut off.
HAINES: Oh, I do. I think so.
BEHAR: I think that CNN should have said to the two them, “this is the debate.”
GOLDBERG: You know they're not going to do that.
BEHAR: “We’re not telling you-” and also no audience. An audience distracts everybody.
GOLDBERG: Yes. Well, that's what Biden –
FARAH GRIFFIN: But Trump agreed to it, so that what’s happening.
GOLDBERG: So, it'll be interesting.
HAINES: But Biden needed to get out in front of it. I would actually disagree with Joy and say he had to project that, because if they arranged it for the best TV moment and all been in those times it doesn't serve him.
BEHAR: But it gives him a way to get out of it by saying “Look, I’m not doing it without an audience.”
FARAH GRIFFIN: He agreed to it.
HAINES: He agreed to it.
BEHAR: We'll see.
Despite the insistence from the rest of the cast that were would be no audience, Behar was still leery that Trump was "going to stack the audience with Trumpers."
“It’s like you have Bozo the Clown on one side and you’ve got a statesman on the other who has had years under his belt of being in the Senate. He knows what he's talking about,” she predicted.
Someone get Joy a mirror.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
May 15, 2024
11:07:01 a.m. Eastern(…)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Here's what I really appreciate. Biden is saying, no audience.
JOY BEHAR: Good.
GOLDBERG: And that the mics must be cut once -
SARA HAINES: I love this.
GOLDBERG: -- the time to answer the question has expired.
SUNNY HOSTIN: Yes.
[Cheers and applause]
GOLDBERG: And I kind of -- I think it's fair and I don't -- I think it's at CNN.
SARA HAINES: It is.
BEHAR: CNN.
GOLDBERG: So it's CNN. And I'm hoping us because the last time -- I don't know if it was CNN that was moderating it but when they -- when the moderators allowed him to go behind Hillary Clinton --
HOSTIN: The stalking.
GOLDBERG: --and stalk her and they didn't say, “hey--
HOSTIN: “Get back to the podium.”
GOLDBERG: -- get back to the podium.” This is -- people always say, what was it -- what was the crowning thing where -- because I always said he's gonna. He's gonna win when he was running against Hillary. I always said it was never a doubt. I said, when I saw people recognize her getting stalked and didn't stop it.
BEHAR: Yeah.
HAINES: Yeah.
BEHAR: There were a lot of signposts.
GOLDBERG: There were a lot of signposts that for me said -- then there were the people who were saying, you know, I love him because he knows what he's doing. I watch his show.
BEHAR: Yeah, yeah.
GOLDBERG: There was a lot of that and so we're all -- I'm hoping this debate happens. I think it's a good idea. It's good for us, you know, and D.T. will have to get his poop together.
[Crosstalk]
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: It was smart of Biden to get ahead of this by challenging Trump and I think it's a recognition that they're neck and neck in the polls. And I think the Biden team is recognizing maybe the trial isn't breaking through in the way that having Donald Trump in every American living room answering tough policy questions head-to-head with him will remind them who he is, what his second term will look like.
I think it's critical that they do have these roadblocks in place, cutting offer the mics is the most important or it can descend into absolute chaos. And I remind folks, I've been for debates always. I understand he's ridiculously unfit for office but this is for the Americans whether we --
GOLDBERG: For us.
FARAH GRIFFIN: Who are undecided still. They need to see it. They need to hear it and need answers to questions. I think it's good for democracy.
HOSTIN: I think it's good for democracy. The only thing is, if you look at the statistics, you know, a lot of people don't watch the debates and a lot of people don't make their decision based on the debates so that's a little bit disappointing but I will say this, I mean, Biden clearly has the edge. Every answer starts with, “well, my opponent, who has been criminally convicted.”
BEHAR: That's right.
HOSTIN: Or, “Well, my opponent who’s facing--”
BEHAR: Impeached.
HOSTIN: “Who has been twice impeached.” “My opponent, who is facing three other criminal trials.” I mean, it's gold. It's very easy.
BEHAR: Yeah, but a lot of people out there feel like – that identify with him. They think he's a victim now. I was reading about this.
(…)
11:15:19 a.m. Eastern
GOLDBERG: You, do you remember what you were talking about?
BEHAR: We were talking about the debates and I wanted to say that I don't think that Biden should have projected that he wants no audience and the mic should be cut off.
HAINES: Oh, I do. I think so.
BEHAR: I think that CNN should have said to the two them, “this is the debate.”
GOLDBERG: You know they're not going to do that.
BEHAR: “We’re not telling you-” and also no audience. An audience distracts everybody.
GOLDBERG: Yes. Well, that's what Biden –
FARAH GRIFFIN: But Trump agreed to it, so that what’s happening.
GOLDBERG: So, it'll be interesting.
HAINES: But Biden needed to get out in front of it. I would actually disagree with Joy and say he had to project that, because if they arranged it for the best TV moment and all been in those times it doesn't serve him.
BEHAR: But it gives him a way to get out of it by saying “Look, I’m not doing it without an audience.”
FARAH GRIFFIN: He agreed to it.
HAINES: He agreed to it.
BEHAR: We'll see.
[Crosstalk]
GOLDBERG: You're also right with this.
BEHAR: I think so.
HOSTIN: That he’ll back out.
GOLDBERG: You know, that -- he is a backer-outer anyway.
HOSITN: He is.
FARAH GRIFFIN: He said he would testify in the trial.
BEHAR: He’s going to come across as the low information candidate that he is!
HOSTIN: Yeah.
BEHAR: That is it. He doesn't know what he's talking about.
GOLDBERG: No.
BEHAR: Not for nothing, President Biden has been in the Senate.
GOLDBEGR: He's going to study. He's going to study. He's going to study and then he's going to get pissed and off the rails.
[Crosstalk]
BEHAR: It’s like you have Bozo the Clown on one side and you’ve got a statesman on the other who has had years under his belt of being in the Senate. He knows what he's talking about. So all this guy can do is stump it. Stump it. Like he did to poor Hillary that day.
(…)
