In an absolutely bonkers segment on Friday’s The View, the liberal hosts tore into former New Jersey governor and current ABC contributor Chris Christie for calling for the economy to reopen, two weeks ago. Showing how they have no interest in having a rational or fair conversation, co-host Whoopi Goldberg demanded Christie “choose” which of his family members he wanted to “sacrifice.”
Her co-hosts Joy Behar and Sunny Hostin went on to aggressively push even more false narratives about the Republican party wanting people to die.
As soon as Christie skyped in, Whoopi was poised and ready to attack:
WHOOPI: You compared it [the virus] to World War II calling it a sacrifice for the American way of life. So I'm asking, since you're suggesting that I sacrifice, who are you sacrificing?
CHRISTIE: Whoopi, we're all going to give up--
WHOOPI: Who are you willing to give up in your family?
CHRISTIE: It's a choice. That's what people don't understand what was said. We have 36.5 million people unemployed. We have in seven different states now the suicide rate going up---
WHOOPI: Who are you willing to sacrifice to die, Chris? You're saying people should be willing to sacrifice family to die. Who are you willing to give up?
Whoopi has been saying for days on the show now that anyone who calls to reopen the economy has to choose which of their own family members they want to die. Christie tried to tear down Whoopi’s straw man argument, that reopening the economy means you want to kill people:
I'll repeat what I said. Lives are going to be lost inevitably in this, no matter what we do. Lives are being lost today after we've been shut in for 9 weeks. People are still dying from this virus.... I said some Americans will make that sacrifice no matter what we do. Now we have to decide how we're going to balance this. The balance is that there are people who are standing on food bank lines, people who are losing their homes, people who are losing their livelihood which is leading to depression, which is leading to suicide, which is leading to addiction, which is leading to domestic violence...
But he may as well have been talking to a wall. None of the co-hosts really wanted to hear what he had to say. Sunny Hostin was next with her less nasty but still unfair question that ignored inconvenient facts:
Just last week parts of Tennessee and Kansas saw a 1,000 spikes in cases. Dr. Fauci warned that if we do open too soon we risk triggering an outbreak that we can't control and could devastate the economy even worse that it is now. Trump dismissed those concerns. Isn't it the virus that controls the timeline and not Trump or the economy? And bottom line, why aren't Republicans trying to push through this stimulus bill that the Democrats have put forth if everyone is so concerned about people?
It would’ve been nice if Christie had pointed out that in states that actually started reopening weeks ago, such as Georgia and Florida, cases have not spiked like the hosts of the View and the rest of the media elites guaranteed would happen. There has actually been a decrease in deaths in these states led by Republican governors.
Christie chose instead to tackle Hostin’s absurd claim that we needed to stop our lives indefinitely for some intangible “cure:”
“Sunny, if we allow the virus to control when we reopen, we will not reopen until there's a vaccine,” he said, pointing out that even the medical experts like Dr. Fauci and Dr. Bright have put out wholly different timelines of when that could be, if ever.
As he stated confidently that he believed another "bipartisan" stimulus was coming, Joy Behar stepped in to claim that Republicans don’t want to give money to the middle class:
“They always seem to have money to give tax breaks to rich people or money to bolster the military. But when it comes down to actually helping people, the Republicans say we don't have any money anymore,” she griped. Christie correctly shot this down as a false Democrat talking point, adding that Republicans voted twice for stimulus packages that were for small businesses and the lower and middle classes hard-hit by this economic recession. But Behar continued to badger him with a completely illogical, self-defeating argument:
JOY BEHAR: Ok so why is everybody crying that they have no money and they can't -- they have no job and have no money? Why is everybody upset running out into the street and defying the rules? Why? Tell me!
CHRISTIE: Because people want their lives back. Even the people who received that money, people that received that aid--
JOY BEHAR: No they want their jobs back. They want their jobs back, not their lives. They’re saying they want food. They want to pay their rent, they want to pay their mortgages. They don't have enough money for that. That's what they're crying about. I don't see the Republican party helping them. All they’re doing is blaming everybody else.
CHRISTIE: That’s just wrong. I mean it’s just absolutely wrong. It's your point of view and you're welcome to it, but you’re not welcome to your own set of facts. The Republicans voted to support all those programs you just talked about….
Yes, Joy, people do want their jobs back, so why is the media, Democrats and your own co-hosts so adamant about stopping any discussion of how and when we can make that happen?
The View
5/15/2020
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: You compared it [the virus] to World War II calling it a sacrifice for the American way of life. So I'm asking, since you're suggesting that I sacrifice, who are you sacrificing?
CHRIS CHRISTIE: Whoopi, we're all going to give up--
WHOOPI: Who are you going to give up in your family?
CHRISTIE: It's a choice. That's what people don't understand what was said. We have 36.5 million people unemployed. We have in seven different states now the suicide rate going up---
WHOOPI: Who are you willing to sacrifice to die, Chris? You're saying people should be willing to sacrifice family to die. Who are you willing to give up?
CHRISTIE: Whoopi, that's not what I said.
WHOOPI: I lost you. There you are. Okay.
CHRISTIE: I'll repeat what I said.
WHOOPI: Okay.
CHRISTIE: Lives are going to be lost inevitably no matter what we do. Lives are being lost today. People are still dying from this virus.
WHOOPI: So you didn't say some Americans have to make the ultimate sacrifice? You did not say that?
CHRISTIE: What I -- no. Listen, I said some Americans will make that sacrifice no matter what we do. Now we have to decide how we're going to balance this. The balance is that there are people who are standing on food bank lines, people who are losing their homes, people who are losing their livelihoodS which is leading to depression, which is leading to suicide, which is leading to addiction, which is leading to domestic violence. I saw all these things after hurricane Sandy when people lost their homes and losing their livelihoods, these things happen. I said we have to balance.Now if you read the rest of the column I also said businesses should only open at 50% capacity. People should be wearing masks. Temperatures need to be taken for people going into businesses. But if we wait around for a vaccine to occur before we open our country, we will lose hundreds of thousands of lives who are being destroyed by the epidemic's cure as we're doing it now. We have to balance the two. That's what I was saying. All we're hearing is that we have to remain shut in. What it’'s destroying the economy and destroying as a result people's lives and their hope.
WHOOPI: Go ahead Sunny?
SUNNY HOSTIN: Just last week parts of Tennessee and Kansas saw a 1,000 spikes in cases. Dr. Fauci warned that if we do open too soon we risk triggering an outbreak that we can't control and could devastate the economy even worse that it is now. Trump dismissed those concerns. Isn't it the virus that controls the timeline and not Trump or the economy? And bottom line, why aren't Republicans trying to push through this stimulus bill that the Democrats have put forth if everyone is so concerned about people?
CHRISTIE: Sunny, if we allow the virus to control when we re-open, we will not re-open until there's a vaccine. Let's remember something. You said earlier -- I don't know if it was you or whether it was Whoopi who said we should let the medical experts determine this. We just heard two different medical experts say two different things. Dr. Fauci is saying a vaccine in 12 to 18 months. Now we hear Dr. Bright is saying in his testimony it could be as long as ten years. I don't think anyone thinks we can afford to keep the country closed for ten years waiting for a vaccine. What I'm trying to say is there are steps we can take with wearing mask masks, with social distancing, with washing surfaces with cleaning hands that will lower the rate of infection that occurred. As far as the stimulus bill, I absolutely believe there will be a bill. This has been every one of these bills each side has pushed for the things they want. We're still distributing hundreds of millions of dollars from the last bill that has not even been put out there yet. Both sides are going to negotiate on this. It's the typical legislative process. The Democrats want the things they want. Republicans want the things they want. They'll ultimately i believe come to a compromise as they have on the three bills before this.
JOY BEHAR: They always seem to have money to give tax breaks to rich people or money to bolster the military. But when it comes down to actually helping people, the Republicans say we don't have any money anymore. That's just me. Let me ask you this question. The president said we have met the moment and we prevailed. Mission accomplished. Do you agree with that?
CHRISTIE: First Let me talk about your first point which is that Republicans voting overwhelmingly for all the aid for small business people across this country twice. Republicans voted overwhelming for the $1,200 checks that have gone to every one of the taxpayers out there who qualified, lower middle class, middle class
that needed the aid. Republicans have voted for aid to hospitals and frontline health care workers. So it's unfair, Joy, to say Republicans don't support any of this stuff and they only have money for big businesses. That's a typical democratic talking point. The facts --
JOY BEHAR: Ok so why is everybody crying that they have no money and they can't -- they have no job and have no money? Why is everybody upset running out into the street and defying the rules? Why? Tell me!
CHRISTIE: Because people want their lives back. Even the people who received that money, people that received that aid--
JOY BEHAR: No they want their jobs back. They want their jobs back, not their lives. They’re saying they want food. They want to pay their rent, they want to pay their mortgages. They don't have enough money for that. That's what they're crying about. I don't see the Republican party helping them. All they’re doing is blaming everybody else.
CHRISTIE: That’s just wrong. I mean it’s just absolutely wrong. It's your point of view and you're welcome to it, but you’re not welcome to your own set of facts. The Republicans voted to support all those programs you just talked about. Food programs, aid programs with direct checks, aid programs to small business, aid programs to front line health care workers and hospitals. All those got overwhelming, in fact unanimous Republican support as they got unanimous democratic support. People want their lives back and part of their lives are their jobs and the things they do every day. Part of what is making people crazy is not just the fear of the virus, but it is also that people have been locked in their homes for over two months. For those not in the vulnerable population, elderly or underlying health problems like asthma or diabetes or other respiratory problems, those people are at much lower risk and when people take precautions like wearing masks, temperature checks, washing hands, like cleaning of surfaces, all that can be done to make it safer for people who want to go back to work to be able to go back to work.
