The View Tries to Scare Americans on Halloween with Stolen Election LIES

With Friday being Halloween, ABC News’s The View tried to give their audience quite a freight by filling their heads with spooky scary conspiracy theories that President Trump was going to steal the upcoming midterm elections and possibly a presidential one. Their potentially inciting rhetoric was spurred on by “very handsome” California Governor Gavin Newsom who was “ringing alarm bells about Trump's plan to send federal election monitors to California on Election Day,” according to moderator Joy Behar.

They open the first “Hot Topics” discussion of the show with a soundbite of Newsom hysterically claiming there would no longer be “fair and free” elections in America under Trump:

I really am scared to death about what's going on in this country. I really believe it is code red. It's five-alarm fire. [Transition] We won't have a country. We won't have an election that's fair and free. If we don't stand up. We won't. There will not be a fair and free election. It will be a Putin election. Was it 87 percent or 87.3 percent? That's what Trump wants.

 

 

“He's worried. He's worried, and are you as worried about it as he is?” Behar elevated the rhetoric that could get someone killed. “Or is he just going to make more Americans distrust the election process like Trump has been doing since he lost in 2020?”

The first to speak up was pretend independent Sara Haines, who was worried that the rhetoric would lead to “disincentivizing voting in democracy, which is the currency of a democracy.” “We don't need to plant seeds (…) So, by planting these seeds, you're already taking a public that's lost trust in everything and saying, your vote doesn't matter. That's the fastest way to affect an election,” she lamented.

But she was immediately followed by co-host Sunny Hostin who wanted to really push Newsom’s inciting rhetoric. “I see it differently because I think sunlight is the best disinfectant. I think that you need to speak truth to power and you need to expose what may be going on,” she argued.

 

 

“And so, when Gavin Newsom is saying, ‘I am concerned about this,’ I think we need to listen!” Hostin shouted. “That's the problem with this country! We don't want to say the quiet part out loud! We don't want to challenge authority! We don't want to challenge authoritarianism! Silence -- there's no place for silence when the democracy is under attack!”

At one point, Behar tried to defend Newsom by blaming Trump; falsely suggesting all the talk of rigged elections started with him:

BEHAR: I just want to say one thing. I don't think Gavin Newsom would be saying this if Donald Trump hasn't thrown in the gauntlet in the first place. It's not like he's doing it to attack.

HAINES: Is it en vogue for every candidate to say, it's probably rigged?

BEHAR: Yeah, but who started this?!

 

 

Behar seemed to have the memory of the goldfish and history only began with the 2020 presidential election. In terms of stolen election claims involving Trump, the Democrats started it in 2016 when they and the liberal media falsely claimed Trump was an “illegitimate” president and that Russia “hacked the election.”

In fact, The View took part in it. Hostin didn’t apologize for here election denialism until 2022 when they were defending Karine Jean-Pierre’s appointment to White House press secretary despite being on record as a 2016 election denier. Moderator Whoopi Goldberg defended Jean-Pierre by arguing that she was “doing her part.” In 2025 alone, they claimed three times (so far) that Trump stole the 2024 election with the help of Elon Musk.

Back on Friday, Faux conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin tried to draw a distinction between The View’s election conspiracy theories and Newsom’s. She insisted that it’s “one thing for pundits and for spectators to say ‘I’m concerned that there will be free and fair elections again,’” but it was “wholly irresponsible” for Newsom.

Buying into Newsom’s inciting rhetoric and amplifying it, fake Republican Ana Navarro tried to compare Trump to the communist dictators of Central America: “Let me just say this. You know, I fled communism. I fled authoritarianism, as you guys know, when I was a child. And the things I'm seeing happen in this country, I never thought I'd see happen in this country.”

 

 

Navarro was excited by the possibility that Republicans could lose in the midterms because, “There will be oversight. And there will be reining in of his authoritarian tendencies!”

“And some people will be going to jail!” Behar cheered.

While Hostin was shrieking at Farah Griffin about Trump supposedly sending “election monitors” to California, something she didn’t have an issue with when they’ve been deployed against red states, Behar dubbed them “election intimidators” as if they were going to be threatening people who were trying to vote. Another accusation potentially dangerous to someone’s life.

 

 

The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:

ABC’s The View
October 31, 2025
11:05:35 a.m. Eastern

JOY BEHAR: Now, California governor and MAGA arch enemy, Gavin Newsom, and very handsome Gavin Newsom, is ringing alarm bells about Trump's plan to send federal election monitors to California on Election Day! Let's watch this clip.

[Cuts to video]

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): I really am scared to death about what's going on in this country. I really believe it is code red. It's five-alarm fire. [Transition] We won't have a country. We won't have an election that's fair and free. If we don't stand up. We won't. There will not be a fair and free election. It will be a Putin election. Was it 87 percent or 87.3 percent? That's what Trump wants.

[Cuts back to live]

BEHAR: He's worried. He's worried, and are you as worried about it as he is? Or is he just going to make more Americans distrust the election process like Trump has been doing since he lost in 2020?

SARA HAINES: I think more likely than fraud it will be disincentivizing voting in democracy, which is the currency of a democracy.

But right now, in 2024, we had 65 percent of the population that showed up at the polls, which is good for this country. Because in the midterms, which can right now be very important, only 47 percent of Americans show up at the polls.

People fought hard for those rights to vote, and we already don't have people showing up at our polls. We don't need to plant seeds. You always go out. You always vote. Let the rest be determined as it plays out, because when fraud was claimed last time, not one judge in this country saw any proof of any fraud. So, by planting these seeds, you're already taking a public that's lost trust in everything and saying, your vote doesn't matter. That's the fastest way to affect an election.

SUNNY HOSTIN: I see it differently because I think sunlight is the best disinfectant. I think that you need to speak truth to power and you need to expose what may be going on.

And you know, up to the election, Project 2025 was written. There was a game plan. And we kept on sounding the alarm. There's a game plan. There's a game plan. It's in writing. Its 90 pages. There's a cliff notes version. No one listened to that.

You know what's happened since Trump was elected? Some of the policies outlined in Project 2025 are happening right now. Reshaping the federal bureaucracy. Reducing the size and influence and empowering the executive branch. Aggressively militarizing an approach to immigration. The use of active-duty military personnel and National Guardsmen to assist in border security. A return to a more isolationist foreign policy. Dismantling the department of Education. It goes on and on and on. Everything he promised he did -- would do, he did.

And so, when Gavin Newsom is saying, I am concerned about this, I think we need to listen! That's the problem with this country! We don't want to say the quiet part out loud! We don't want to challenge authority! We don't want to challenge authoritarianism! Silence -- there's no place for silence when the democracy is under attack!

BEHAR: I just want to say one thing. I don't think Gavin Newsom would be saying this if Donald Trump hasn't thrown in the gauntlet in the first place. It's not like he's doing it to attack.

[Crosstalk]

HAINES: Is it en vogue for every candidate to say, it's probably rigged?

BEHAR: Yeah, but who started this?!

[Crosstalk]

HAINES: But it doesn’t matter! You don't win a bad idea with a bad idea. The point is the only power a regular American person has is to go to the polls. If they can keep their eyes open and see problems and be alert and educated and vote at the same time!

HOSTIN: Why is Trump sending election monitors to California?! Why is Trump sending people there?!

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: I’ll speak to that, but I think it’s one thing for pundits and for spectators to say “I’m concerned that there will be free and fair elections again.” I think it is wholly irresponsible for the governor of the most populous state – who, by the way, oversees elections in his own state. He oversees the cybersecurity infrasucture. He oversees the secretary of state. Down to poll watchers, to election workers, Gavin Newsom has a lot of power in this.

HOSTIN (Interrupting): Why are there federal monitors, though?!

FARAH GRIFFIN: We could at minimum say, ‘I promise you, California will have a free and fair election and I'll work with every governor to make sure there's no efforts to undermine them.’ But that’s not what he’s doing –

HOSTIN (Interrupting): How does he do that when Donald Trump is sending federal monitors into his state?!

FARAH GRIFFIN: Because he’s the chief executive of his state. Monitors, we need to know what that means. I do think it's an alarming phrase.

BEHAR: Doesn't it sound like election intimidators?!

FARAH GRIFFIN: But you also have a governor with his own authorities in the state – And for him to say this – It reminds me of the gerrymandering debate. So, everyone is angry when Texas redraws congressional maps to add more Republican seats, ‘they're cheating, it's rigged,’ so California responds by cheating and rigging it by adding more Democratic seats.

HOSTIN: So, what are they supposed to do, just let them do it?!

[Crosstalk]

FARAH GRIFFIN: No, you’re supposed to safely secure your elections and tell your voters that you can trust voting in California.

BEHAR: No, the gerrymandering!

HOSTIN: What do you do with that?!

BEHAR: What are you supposed to do with that?!

FARAH GRIFFIN: You should challenge it at the state level. Former Governor Schwarzenegger talked about this. There's a process to do it in California. There's a process in Texas. Change the laws so that people cannot do partisan gerrymandering.

HOSTIN: You can't change the laws when Republicans are in charge in Texas!

ANA NAVARRO: Let me just say this. You know, I fled communism. I fled authoritarianism, as you guys know, when I was a child. And the things I'm seeing happen in this country, I never thought I'd see happen in this country. I never thought I'd see an insurrection and people – a mob of rioters at the Capitol trying to stop an election result.

And so, I think, you know, from my personal experience, I look at this, and I really feel we need to be vigilant and we just need to see the -- like every day, it's something different. It's the tearing up of the East Wing, it’s the election monitors.

HOSTIN: Disappearing people!

NAVARRO: To me, what Trump and the Republicans are trying to do with Texas -- and I -- here's the question. He always talks about how high his poll numbers are and how he's got the best poll numbers of anybody. If his poll numbers are so good and if he feels so confident about his approval rating in this country, why then does he and Republicans find it necessary to change the congressional maps to give them more sure wins for Republicans?

BEHAR: Good question. Right.

NAVARRO: Because they think they're going to lose in the midterm, and if they lose, that means that for the first time in this term, there will be pushback. There will be oversight. And there will be reining in of his authoritarian tendencies!

BEHAR: And some people will be going to jail.

HOSTIN: Right.

[Applause]