The cast of ABC’s The View has made it clear for a while now that they’re in the tank for President Biden. But while they denounced even the Democrats who challenged him, co-host Joy Behar admitted to guest comedian Bill Maher on Tuesday that she self-censors her criticism of Biden because she was afraid she could help elect former President Trump by pointing out the truth.
Behar was in a bit of disbelief that Maher would dare to call out “the crazy stuff on the left” and admits she was afraid to do so:
BEHAR: I'm nervous about saying anything against Biden because I feel – not that I have so much power and you have some more than I do obviously, but --
MAHER: oh, I don't know about that.
BEHAR: Are you afraid that you might influence the people who are on the fence?
Maher argued that if you don’t call it like you see it, “you lose all credibility.” “My bond with my audience has always been I don't pull a punch. My bond with my audience is you're not going to like everything I say but you know I'm saying what I really think is true,” he said.
He went on to lament that “Biden just presents as old. It's not really fair.” Recalling a recent speech Biden gave, he described the President as “cadaver-like.” “But his brain is good. He’s still great,” Behar clownishly pushed back.
Earlier in the show, before Maher was on the set, Behar proclaimed that people who wore MAGA hats should “put a swastika on the hat.” Maher decried the idea because it involved hating half the country and he didn’t want to do that:
Look, I'm not going to defend Donald Trump ever but I would never say that we should put the swastika on the cap because I think you can hate Donald Trump. You can't hate everybody who likes him. It's half the country. I don't want to live in that country. I don't want to live in the country where I hate half the country. And I don’t hate half the country.
“How dare you disagree with me in public,” Behar quipped.
Coming to Behar’s defense later in the show, Maher said: “Joy is a wonderful human being and she should not be afraid that people are going to attack her because she said the thing about the swastika on the cap. She does not think that all -- as you said to me in the break, you do not think that all the people who are for Trump are Nazis.”
Behar said that she didn’t think all of Trump’s supporters were Nazis, but she wanted “them to pay attention to words like ‘vermin’ and ‘poisoning the blood.’ And the Third Reich. That’s all. That's really what I'm asking.”
“You can hate Trump. You can't hate everybody who likes him. It is half the country,” Maher reiterated. “I have some in my family. I don't think they're Nazis,” Behar added.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
May 21, 2024
11:09:43 a.m. Eastern(…)
JOY BEHAR: By the way out there, that hat that you keep wearing – that red hat that says Make America Great Again, that tells people that you go along with this so might as well put a swastika on the hat.
(…)
11:27:26 a.m. Eastern
BEHAR: I'm nervous about saying anything against Biden because I feel, not that I have so much power and you have some more than I do obviously, but --
BILL MAHER: oh, I don't know about that.
BEHAR: Are you afraid that you might influence the people who are on the fence?
MAHER: I think you lose all credibility. I do. My bond with my audience has always been I don't pull a punch. My bond with my audience is you're not going to like everything I say but you know I'm saying what I really think is true.
BEHAR: Right.
MAHER: And that's –
[Applause]
Okay. And, look, Biden just presents as old. It's not really fair.
BEHAR: No.
MAHER: Because he's almost the same age -- Trump is almost the same age as him but Trump doesn't present that way. You look at somebody right away, you can kind of just sum them up. We are not young, but we don't present as old? Biden does. I saw him yesterday making that speech. I mean, I'm sorry, he's cadaver-like.
BEHAR: But his brain is good. He’s still great.
(…)
11:30:00 a.m. Eastern
MAHER: Look, I'm not going to defend Donald Trump ever but I would never say that we should put the swastika on the cap because I think you can hate Donald Trump. You can't hate everybody who likes him. It's half the country. I don't want to live in that country. I don't want to live in the country where I hate half the country. And I don’t hate half the country.
BEHAR: How dare you disagree with me in public.
[Applause] [Laughter]
(…)
11:43:46 a.m. Eastern
MAHER: Joy is a wonderful human being and she should not be afraid that people are going to attack her because she said the thing about the swastika on the cap. She does not think that all -- as you said to me in the break, you do not think that all the people who are for Trump are Nazis.
BEHAR: No, I don't. I don’t. I just want them to pay attention to words like “vermin” and “poisoning the blood.”
MAHER: Of course.
BEHAR: And the third Reich. That’s all. That's really what I'm asking.
MAHER: They see Trump as a comedian. They see him as a clown who says crazy things.
BEHAR: They saw Hitler like that.
MAHER: Right, okay, but – You can hate Trump. You can't hate everybody who likes him. It is half the country.
BEHAR: I have some in my family. I don't think they're Nazis.
(…)
