On ABC’s The View on Friday, the co-hosts discussed the prospects of peace between North Korea and South Korea, but Sunny Hostin refused to accept that President Trump deserved one ounce of credit. "This has nothing to do with Trump...I think the kudos goes to China, not Trump." Several others disagreed.
JOY BEHAR: The leaders, Kim Jong-un – remember him? -- and Moon Jae-in from China [sic] both agreed to a common goal of denuclearization. Naturally, Trump is already taking credit. He’s already saying he did it. He called him Rocket Man, that was provocative. Is that what’s he’s claiming is his Nobel Prize?
PAULA FARIS: Moon Jae-in, who you just mentioned, the South Korean president, he is thanking Trump for supporting the inter-Korean dialogue, as he said. But you gotta look – not long ago, Kim Jong-un was threatening us with intercontinental ballistic missiles and testing hydrogen bombs. And then they get caught up in this war of words. Trump enlists these historic sanctions in February. Ivanka Trump meets with Moon –
BEHAR: Well, the sanctions were from 2006.
FARIS: No, but they enlisted new sanctions in February, the toughest sanctions, they say, on record, when it comes to North Korea, and all of a sudden, we’re on the cusp of unprecedented talks –
SARA HAINES: And China got on board.
SUNNY HOSTIN: This has nothing to do with Trump, in my opinion, because let’s face it – China is responsible for 90 percent of North Korea's trade. And China never got on board before. This time, China got on board with the U.N. sanctions. These weren’t U.S. sanctions, they were U.N. sanctions. And I think when China gets on board and you're a 90-percent trade partner, what do you do? You have to come to the table. So I think the kudos goes to China, not Trump!
HAINES: Actually, it’s a little bit of both. You can’t subtract the effect the U.S. had on this.
HOSTIN: Calling him Rocket Man and all that stuff?
HAINES: I'm not saying I agree with the tactics or support them or saw the strategy. I'm saying with this amount of major players, I don't think you can take Trump out of the equation. I think China had a big part of it. They have always been on board and voted in favor of sanctions, they never enforced it before now.
The Friday show also featured another two segments with Stormy Daniels lawyer Michael Avenatti, who Joy Behar introduced like this: "Here to give us the latest dirt and details is our favorite TV guy now! I love you on television so much! The legal eagle! The always entertaining Michael Avenatti!"
Behar ended the two segments by repeating her wish that the porn star's claims will end the Trump presidency, so Avenatti ended by boasting: "We're here today talking about this because of the courage, intelligence, and fortitude of Stormy Daniels. And I'm gonna say I think she'll go down in modern history as one of the most incredible women to stand up to men in power."
