Amid swirling doomsday headlines about an impending A.I. apocalypse that would kill off all of humanity, ABC’s “bona fide news” co-host Joy Behar wanted to make sure the crisis didn’t go to waste. On Thursday’s episode of The View, a month and half before the midterm elections, Behar falsely suggested that only Democratic Party politicians were trying to stop it. She also suggested that President Trump was actively trying to “destroy the planet” and needed to be removed.
“Well, he says he wants us to give him another chance. To what; to veto economic and environmental bills so that you can destroy the planet even further?” Behar scoffed during a segment about the White House’s pitch to elect Republicans.
Joy Behar claims Trump is actively trying to "destroy the planet" and suggests the administration is "attack[ing] free speech, so that people like us cannot just say what we have on our minds."
When accepting their broadcast license, ABC agreed to limits on what they can say and… pic.twitter.com/Fgou1AQgdU— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) September 17, 2026
She continued to screech and suggested Trump was uninterested in stopping A.I. from killing us:
To destroy - a chance to destroy the economy? To alienate our friends around the world, another chance to do that, to aggravate Canada, for example? To ignore the threat of A.I.? Another chance to attack free speech, so that people like us cannot just say what we have on our minds? Is that the chance that they want? And they already blew it the second chance. He had one chance. He had a second chance and he blew it. So, that's enough. Bye.
During a conversation about the recent warnings of A.I. from tech CEOs, Behar made her election pitch as she falsely suggested that no Republicans and only Democrats were trying to stop the A.I. apocalypse:
Can I just say, that there are Democrats working for this to get to take care of this. Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, a Democrat. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat governor of Illinois and Gavin Newsom in California. They're all signing laws for safety requirements. I do not see that on the other side. I see Trump saying “don’t worry about it.”
Joy Behar claims only Democrats want to keep A.I. from killing off humanity:
"Can I say, that there are Democrats working for this to get to takecare of this (...) They're all signing laws for safety requirements. I do not see that on the other side."
She had to be reminded that… pic.twitter.com/bbtagqH5F7— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) September 17, 2026
Her lie was provably false. Just last week, they spoke with Republican Senator Ted Cruz (TX) and they spent time talking with him about his bill to put restrictions on A.I. companies because he understood the threat it posed. The lie was so obvious that even co-host Sunny Hostin stepped in to remind Behar of their conversation with Cruz.
Behar seemed to suggest it didn’t count because Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar was working with him on it:
HOSTIN: Ted Cruz is also actually working on it.
FARAH GRIFFIN: It has to be done at the federal level.
BEHAR: Okay, Ted Cruz because he's working with Klobuchar who’s a Democrat.
Additionally, Brendan Steinhauser, CEO of The Alliance to Secure A.I., reacted on X to Behar's false claim and noted: "Senator Cruz. Senator Banks. Congressman Chip Roy. Congressman Nathaniel Moran. Congressman Brian Mast. Governor Ron DeSantis. Plenty of Republicans are working on this issue."
If it wasn’t clear that they viewed the show as a mechanism to help Democrats, between those two comments from Behar, moderator Whoopi Goldberg seemingly referred to the show and the Democratic Party with the royal “we” signifying their unity.
When scolding her fellow Democrats for celebrating midterm election wins too soon, Goldberg warned: “It's not a done deal and people celebrating that we’re coming in. We don’t know if we are coming in. But if we are coming in, you better be ready for what needs to happen.”
Whoopi scolds "we" [Democrats] for celebrating midterm sweeps too early:
"Get your poo together, because if the Democrats win, you have an obligation, Democrats, this is not, you know, this is not -- it's not a done deal and people celebrating that we coming in. We don't know if… pic.twitter.com/7g9vyDxAfA— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) September 17, 2026
Contrary to Behar’s whining that about the purported “attack [on] free speech, so that people like us cannot just say what we have on our minds,” “bona fide news programs” were not allowed to electioneer.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
September 17, 2026
11:05:01 a.m. Eastern(…)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Will they be able to get disillusioned voters back at this point?
JOY BEHAR: Well, he says he wants us to give him another chance.
GOLDBERG: Which one? Because they both said two totally different things.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: Totally different things.
BEHAR: To what; to veto economic and environmental bills so that you can destroy the planet even further? To destroy - a chance to destroy the economy? To alienate our friends around the world, another chance to do that, to aggravate Canada, for example? To ignore the threat of A.I.? Another chance to attack free speech, so that people like us cannot just say what we have on our minds?
Is that the chance that they want? And they already blew it the second chance. He had one chance. He had a second chance and he blew it. So, that's enough. Bye.
(…)
11:08:06 a.m. Eastern
GOLDBERG: Well, also, I mean, let's be real. People thought, ‘okay, we're going to give this guy a shot and he' do better because now he knows better.’ Well now, we know better. Now we know better. And this idea that Democrats get it, you know, two months ago that was not what that [polls] said.
SUNNY HOSTIN: That is not what --
GOLDBERG: People didn't believe we had any -
[Crosstalk]
So, listen, here's the one thing I want to beg from whoever wins: take this as a referendum from the American people to politicians, get your poo together.
[Applause]
Get your poo together, because if the Democrats win, you have an obligation, Democrats, this is not, you know, this is not -- It's not a done deal and people celebrating that we’re coming in. We don’t know if we are coming in. But if we are coming in, you better be ready for what needs to happen.
[Applause]
You better be ready on day one. You better hit the ground running.
HOSTIN: Yes.
GOLDBERG: Because there's a lot to get done and there's a lot of people you need to take care of.
And all you politicians, you all who get re-elected or don't get re-elected, you better pay attention to what we're saying because we're not playing with you. We have waited. We've been patient. We have watched you go in our pockets and pull out every dime you could get. We’ve watched you make money in places you had no business making money. We've watched you all --
[Applause]
-- do better than we have been ab to do. So, have your poo together. No matter who gets in, because we are going to hold you accountable. We'll be right back.
(…)
11:18:57 a.m. Eastern
BEHAR: Can I just say, that there are Democrats working for this to get to take care of this. Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, a Democrat. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat governor of Illinois and Gavin Newsom in California. They're all signing laws for safety requirements. I do not see that on the other side. I see Trump saying “don’t worry about it.”
HOSTIN: Ted Cruz is also actually working on it.
FARAH GRIFFIN: It has to be done at the federal level.
BEHAR: Okay, Ted Cruz because he's working with Klobuchar who’s a Democrat.
(…)
