As they’ve done before, the women at The View used the latest controversy over President Trump as a way to complain that President Obama had it worse. As news broke that porn star Stormy Daniels was back in the news again, suing President Trump, the View hosts whined that this story was just more proof of how Trump got away with everything, yet Obama faced unfair scrutiny.
On the March 7 show, guest host Elaine Welteroth, former editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue, joined the table and immediately took over the usual Whoopi take of comparing Trump to Obama, complaining Obama would’ve been “impeached” already.
On the whole Stormy Daniels scandal, Welteroth was in disbelief that this conversation was even being had about the sitting president. “I can't help but think about the double standard. If Obama were president--” she began to say.
Host Sunny Hostin immediately gushed in agreement,“Oh, forget it!” as Welteroth continued:
“-- and was accused of a percentage of what we know about President Trump, we would not even -- it would be straight to impeachment. The double standard of that infuriates me and I just think we can't normalize this conversation,” Welteroth said in frustration.
Surprisingly, Whoopi and host Joy Behar didn’t find the news that surprising, saying affairs in the White House were normal. Whoopi crassly joked that if the carpets in the Oval Office were vacuumed, enough DNA would’ve been found to form six whole people, while Behar cracked that adultery was as American as “apple pie.”
“This is not the first relationship that we have been made aware of in time. This is the first time that you have it instantaneously,” Whoopi stated.
“Adultery in the White House is as American as apple pie, honey,” Behar cracked.
But Welteroth made the comparison to Obama again. “Not for a black man in America who made it to presidency!” she gushed.
Host Meghan McCain went on to argue that Trump supporters did not care about this story.
“They don't care about this affair. They know who he is... They know that he’s a philanderer. For whatever reason, I can't pretend to explain it. I'm not a psychologist. But I know that his supporters do not care. This will not make a difference,” she offered.
“All the evangelicals in this country say they don't care? All bets are off on sex?” Behar snarked.
The panel ended the segment with Whoopi and McCain coming to agreement that they had a far greater interest in seeing how the Russia investigation plays out than any of these stories about affairs with the president.
Read the full transcript below:
ABC’s The View
3/7/2018
ELAINE WELTEROTH: The fact that we are even talking about a porn star engaging with our president and that we are -- that this is normalized is blowing my mind. [ Applause ] I can't help but think about the double standard. If Obama were president and was accused of a percentage of what we know about President Trump, we would not even -- it would be straight to impeachment. The double standard of that infuriates me and I think we can't normalize this conversation.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: I'm just going to say, presidents-- if you were to vacuum that rug in the Oval Office, you could build six people from the DNA. This is not -- this is not new for the presidency. The difference -- I'm sorry. The difference is that in a cycle that we live in now where everything is known, everything is seen, I mean, think about all the presidents that have been through there. This is not the first relationship that we have been made aware of in time. This is the first time that you have it instantaneously.
JOY BEHAR: Adultery in the White House is as American as apple pie, honey.
ELAINE WELTEROTH: Not for a black man in America who made it to presidency.
BEHAR: He’s the only black person who made it to that position.
WHOOPI: He wasn’t even born in America, don’t forget that!
MEGHAN MCCAIN: There's been an absolute paradigm shift in the last election for a lot of different reasons but one of them is people don't care. They don't care about this affair. They know who he is. The grab them by the blank tape that happened, people know that this man cheated on his wives. They know that he’s a philanderer. For whatever reason, I can't pretend to explain it. I'm not a psychologist. But I know that his supporters do not care. This will not make a difference.
BEHAR: All the evangelicals in this country say they don't care? All bets are off on sex.
[cross-talk]
MCCAIN, HOSTIN: It's fascinating.
MCCAIN: We’ve discussed this so many times on this show.
HOSTIN: What's interesting to me, if you read part of the dossier, the Michael Steele dossier, it says in there that Donald Trump may have had affairs with prostitutes in Russia and that that's some of the leverage that Russia uses --
MCCAIN: Allegedly.
HOSTIN: Allegedly. And that's some of the leverage. Aren't we more likely to believe that that is true given stormy Daniels' story and the playmate's story? That should matter.
MCCAIN: The problem is now is Occam's razor--the most likely scenario probably is the one that happened but the American public doesn't care. I don't know what it means going forward for our morality, I don’t know what it means for our impressions of what marriage units are.
