With President Trump set to address a Joint Session of Congress later Tuesday night, the loony liberal ladies of ABC News’s The View racked their brains for ways their fellow Democrats could protest, make a scene, and disrupt the event. Their ideas ranged from not showing up to walking out to one insane suggestion that the Democrats “get butt naked and dance around” the floor.
It was moderator Whoopi Goldberg who kicked off their conversation by immediately diving into degeneracy. “What should they do? Should they sit and listen? Should they get butt naked and dance around?” the deranged comedian wondered.
Co-host Joy Behar and faux conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin teamed up to tone down Goldberg’s suggestion to something a tad more reasonable. They cut out the dancing:
BEHAR: I think they should walk out en masse.
FARAH GRIFFIN: Naked or clothed?
BEHAR: Naked. Naked would be good.
GOLDBERG: Naked could be interesting.
Behar went on to wonder if there was going to be a “laugh track” used during Trump’s address.
For her more serious suggestion, Behar wanted Democrats to just walk out on Trump and praised former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) childish tantrum:
I think they should walk out. I think that a picture is worth a thousand words. I refer you back to Nancy Pelosi tearing up the State of the Union. We still remember that. That was a moment of protest.
“He's over the edge,” Behar proclaimed as her rhetoric grew ominous. “I think that we passed the point of no return with him, and we really need to stand up to him big time.”
Sunny Hostin followed up by proclaiming, without evidence, that since “day one” of Trump’s second term we’ve seen him become “a dictator” and witnessed “the rise of fascism.”
Thus, her proposal for the Democratic “opposition party” protest was for them to just not show up:
I actually don't think they should show up at all…I think the record will show that the room was half empty, and that the Democrats fought him, that the Democratic Party is actually an opposition party at this point, not a resistance party.
I don't like the optics of walking out simply because that sort of seems to me to get into the Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert type of histrionics. And I think it would be much better to simply deny him the audience that he craves so very much, and at the same time showing that they are the opposition party.
Pretend independent Sara Haines had a more rational idea: attend but don’t react. “I disagree with both of you,” she said. “I think their job is to show up and to listen, and I think there's a strength in optics in that too. We're not going anywhere. We came here. We're sitting here. We're doing our job.”
“Don't be a distraction to the insanity that comes in the words of the night, meaning don't get in his way,” she argued.
Farah Griffin agreed with Haines. “Now, I agree with Sara, you've got to show up,” she told the others. “Every Democrat is represents people who voted for Trump. So, they need to listen to what he's saying and be prepared to counter. But you can't counter someone if you're not even listening to what they’re saying.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
March 4, 2025
11:03:12 a.m. Eastern(…)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: What should they do? Should they sit and listen? Should they get butt naked and dance around?
[Laughter]
What should happen, or should they all wait till the end when freshman Senator Elissa Slotkin gives the democratic response? Anybody?
JOY BEHAR: I think they should walk out en masse.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: Naked or clothed?
BEHAR: Naked. Naked would be good.
[Applause]
GOLDBERG: Naked could be interesting.
BEHAR: I mean, they should walk out. Or is there going to be a laugh track, by the way?
I think they should walk out. I think that a picture is worth a thousand words. I refer you back to Nancy Pelosi tearing up the State of the Union. We still remember that. That was a moment of protest.
And just sitting there and being docile is not working. He's over the edge. He's – As you put it out there in the intro, he is – I think that we passed the point of no return with him, and we really need to stand up to him big time. And they’re in the position of doing that and they should do.
We certainly can't expect the Republicans to do anything
[Applause]
SUNNY HOSTIN: I agree with you, Joy, to a certain extent. I actually don't think they should show up at all.
BEHAR: Okay. I'll go with that too.
HOSTIN: I think that when history resurfaces the photos of this first speech in this abnormal presidency – He said he was going to be a dictator from day one and we warned about the demise of our democracy and the rise of fascism and I think we've seen it in the first days of his presidency.
I think the record will show that the room was half empty, and that the Democrats fought him, that the Democratic Party is actually an opposition party at this point, not a resistance party.
I don't like the optics of walking out simply because that sort of seems to me to get into the Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert type of histrionics. And I think it would be much better to simply deny him the audience that he craves so very much, and at the same time showing that they are the opposition party.
[Applause]
SARA HAINES: I disagree with both of you. I think their job is to show up and to listen, and I think there's a strength in optics in that too. We're not going anywhere. We came here. We're sitting here. We're doing our job.
And I think it was representative Jayapal that said, we’re not going to say we avoid it or we walk away or we’re scared. We show up. We sit there stern-faced. It doesn’t mean you have to be polite and clap and stand up. You can stand there as an unbreakable force showing you're not going anywhere, and I think that is a stronger thing.
Don't be a distraction to the insanity that comes in the words of the night, meaning don't get in his way.
(…)
11:07:07 a.m. Eastern
FARAH GRIFFIN: Now, I agree with Sara, you've got to show up. I think how they do – I'm all for displays of some kind of protest, if they're respectful and some degree of decorum. What I'm honestly a little bit more curious to see is there a cohesive pushback with Democrats. Because we’ve read they might wave empty egg containers, someone else might bring a federal fired worker, someone might wear black. But when it's a scatter-shot response like that it doesn't break through in this environment.
BEHAR: Not if it’s a lot of them.
FARAH GRIFFIN: You're going up against the biggest bully pulpit in the world –
BEHAR: Yeah, the biggest bully.
FARAH GRIFFIN: - the American presidency. That and they have all – every Democrat is represents people who voted for Trump. So, they need to listen to what he's saying and be prepared to counter. But you can't counter someone if you're not even listening to what they’re saying.
(…)
