The liberal hosts of ABC’s The View opened Monday by opining how awful the modern conservative movement was, on their February 26 show. The hosts bashed this year’s CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) guests as “extremists” who were once considered part of the “fringe” but were now the majority of the Republican party.
Not lying low after getting blasted for her anti-Christian rhetoric two weeks ago, co-host Joy Behar went a step further claiming that this was just the latest example of how conservatives had embraced “nazis” and “fascists.”
The show opened with ABC playing a clip of CPAC guest Mona Charen calling out the Republican Party’s hypocrisy of standing for women but embracing “sexual harassers and abusers of women who are in our party who are sitting in the White House,” referring to President Trump and Senate candidate Roy Moore.
Guest co-host Meredith Vieira praised Charen for her “bravery” for “standing up” to say those things to a conservative crowd, “knowing she would get booed or possibly worse.” That provoked Behar to claim that conservatives were now the party of nazis and fascists.
“[T]he CPAC group invited this woman from France, Marine Le Pen, whose father was a Holocaust denier, a total fascist and a Nazi and Marine Le Pen the daughter, thinks her father was very good and right and everything else and they invited her,” the liberal host pointed out.
She gushed that Republicans clearly had no problems with nazis, adding, “There’s like this penchant for nazis now with Charlottesville, and the neos and the ‘good guys on both sides’ and now Marine Le Pen.”
Citing Bill Buckley and Bill Kristol, Behar argued that the GOP had changed with Trump in office. “Those people are appalled by what’s going on right now, within this party,” she slammed.
After co-host Meghan McCain called the guest choices "controversial," fellow co-host Sunny Hostin pressed, "It's sort of extreme, right?"
After this, Vieira tried to correct Behar’s misunderstanding of which Le Pen spoke at CPAC (It was Marion, not Marine Le Pen) but the whole panel was clearly confused at who they were talking about:
VIEIRA: I think it was his niece, actually.
BEHAR: Marine Le Pen is his daughter.
VIEIRA: Niece.
BEHAR: Really?
MCCAIN: No, she’s the niece of Marine Le Pen and the granddaughter of Jean La Pen.
BEHAR: Oh. She’s the granddaughter--Marine Le Pen is the granddaughter of Jean La Pen correct?
MCCAIN: Yes.
BEHAR: Okay.
After some more cross-talk, Hostin brought the discussion back to the problem with extremists in the Republican party, something Joy Behar claimed was only a problem with the GOP and not Democrats.
“How do you wrestle your party and bring it back to the party that you grew up in?” Hostin asked host Meghan McCain.
Vieira and Hostin doubted the party would ever be the same after Trump took office.
“It may not be possible,” Vieira claimed.
“Maybe not while Trump is president,” Hostin agreed.
McCain took that question to point out that there were divisions and factions in the Democrat Party as well, citing the Bernie Sanders crowd plus the backlash in California against Dianne Feinstein for seeking re-election. But Behar refused to equate the two, arguing that only Republicans had the problem with “fascism.”
“That's traditional politics. We're talking about something much worse here, at CPAC. You’re talking about fascist conversations. You’re talking about people who are neo-Nazis,” she gushed.
Whoopi agreed, saying that the "fringe has become the norm" at CPAC.
"The face of the party!" Hostin added.
To read the transcript, click expand below:
ABC’s The View
2/26/2018
11:02:33am EST
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: This year's CPAC ended on a wild note this weekend when conservative columnist Mona Charen called out Republicans for being part of the problem when it comes to sexual misconduct. Take a look:
[Plays video]
MONA CHAREN: I'm disappointed in people on our side for being hypocrites about sexual harassers and abusers of women who are in our party who are sitting in the White House, who brag about their extra marital affairs, who brag about mistreating women. This is a party ready to endorse the Republican party, endorsed Roy Moore for the Senate in the state of Alabama even though he was a credibly accused child molester. You cannot claim that you stand for women and put up with that.
WHOOPI: So she fired up the crowd so much that she was apparently escorted out of the conference for her own safety. But no matter where you fall politically, does she have a point?
MEREDITH VIEIRA: Absolutely. I think she's speaking truth. I applaud her. I really do. I thought she was extremely brave to stand up in that crowd knowing she would get booed or possibly worse and saying she believed there was hypocrisy within the party. Good for her. The problem I think with both sides is that nobody does stand up anymore. We just spout the party line, whichever party you belong to and somewhere in between the truth gets lost.
JOY BEHAR: She also made the point that the CPAC group invited this woman from France, Marine Le Pen, whose father was a Holocaust denier, a total fascist and a Nazi and Marine Le Pen the daughter, thinks her father was very good and right and everything else and they invited her. There’s like this penchant for Nazis now with Charlottesville, and the neos and the ‘good guys on both sides’ and now Marine Le Pen. It’s like a lot of people in the Republican party that I remember, Bill Buckley who fought in World War 2, Bill Kristol, who is so anti-Nazi, those people are appalled by what's going on right now, within this party.
MEGHAN MCCAIN: But there are also people like Pat Buchanan. I have many things--I'm saying there were figures in the Republican party for a long time that were controversial. CPAC speakers going back a long time-- Last year there was a whole controversy over Milo Yiannopoulos being invited. Sebastian Gorka. Al Cardenas whose an immigration opponent. Only one U.S. sitting senator ended up speaking at CPAC.
Regarding the video we just showed, there's a woman sitting next to her in the white dress, she’s actually a friend of mine, Kelsey Harkness, I wish what she said was getting as much attention as what Mona said. She said clearly this conversation was long overdue. I don't blame conservatives and conservative women for being skeptical and proceeding with caution.” I echo what she’s saying. Because we’re in this place where, just because there's lots of things Trump does and say that are extremely incendiary, he has 29%, according to CNN, support among women in general, that doesn't mean that all my conservative ideals I believe in and the tenants that my life surrounds have gone out the window.
BEHAR: Right, well that’s why people like you, speak up. Mona Charen. Good for her!
MCCAIN: It doesn't -- I think this binary idea that you're either for Trump or a liberal is not accurate.
SUNNY HOSTIN: No.
BEHAR: No, no one ever said that.
MCCAIN: Conservative women are being put in positions that are indefensible. I tweeted Matt Schlapp over the weekend, who's the head of CPAC, I said you stop defending the indefensible and that's what I ask in so many situations because there are things that have gone on at CPAC, this weekend, the booing of my father, another example. I cannot defend any of this but it's not --
BEHAR: Why aren't Paul Ryan and Mcconnell there?
MCCAIN: Because I do think CPAC has become this sort of, controversial. It wasn’t by the way--
HOSTIN: It’s sort of extreme, right? You and I --
MCCAIN: The invitation of Le Pen is bizarre. The invitation of Milo last year is very strange. But then you have Ted Cruz and the president speaking as well.
HOSTIN: There's a fracture in the party. That’s the thing. You and I talk about that a lot. I think that sort of conservative you are doesn't necessarily exist in this iteration of Trump's world and exist in numbers and we have seen this fracture not only in the Republican party, we’re seeing it in the Democratic party as well. So to your point Meredith, where do we go from here where you see this sort of extremism? Don't we all have to move to the middle somehow? To make sense of it?
VIEIRA: I would think to have a conversation with each other. Yeah. You mentioned Le Pen's daughter. I think it was his niece, actually.
BEHAR: Marine Le Pen is his daughter.
VIEIRA: Niece.
BEHAR: Really?
MCCAIN: No, she’s the niece of Marine Le Pen and the granddaughter of Jean La Pen.
BEHAR: Oh. She’s the granddaughter--Marine Le Pen is the granddaughter of Jean La Pen correct?
MCCAIN: Yes.
BEHAR: Okay.
…..
11:09:34-
SUNNY HOSTIN:: How do you wrestle your party and bring it back to the party that you grew up in?
VIEIRA: It may not be possible.
HOSTIN: Maybe not while Trump is president.
MCCAIN: We were going to talk about Dianne Feinstein in this pushback against her running for reelection.
BEHAR: It’s not the same.
MCCAIN: There's a huge fracture in the Democratic party whether or not you're going with Bernie Sanders or more traditional democrat like Joe Biden. And again, I don't think it's sort of as vociferous as it is in the Republican party, but--
BEHAR: That's traditional politics. We're talking about something much worse here, at CPAC. You’re talking about fascist conversations. You’re talking about people who are neo-Nazis.
MCCAIN: But that’s a minority. I'm not going to defend CPAC. I would never defend CPAC but--
WHOOPI: What’s interesting is you--really you used to be the minority. It was sort of the fringe element. And now the fringe has become the norm
HOSTIN: The face of the party
WHOOPI: And people are trying to figure out, wait a minute, how fast did this happen and how long has this been coming and how did I miss it.
VIEIRA: And who let it happen?
BEHAR: Isn't the disgrace really at the top level of the Republican party where Paul Ryan and Mitch Mcconnell say nothing against trump?
MCCAIN: You expect Paul Ryan to just say, ‘Alright, I'm done because Trump's president, I'm no longer going to fight for my ideals. I'm out of here.’ It’s not logical.
[cross-talk]
BEHAR: I expect him to say something.
HOSTIN: --say something against what’s going on.
[commercial break]
SUNNY HOSTIN: It's unfortunately when it comes to guns and gun control people put their party before the control and I believe they put their quest to remain in power over the needs of communities. I mean, you have these children that are deeply in pain, and struggling with that grief because I believe they're going back to school today.
