On Monday’s The View, the liberal hosts were more upset at Sen. Ron Johnson [R-WI] making incendiary statements about Black Lives Matter and the "fictitious" Antifa, than they were by scandal-plagued New York Governor Andrew Cuomo refusing to resign.
Co-host Joy Behar was reluctant to see Cuomo go, because he had “good points” and a Republican would be far worse:
What worries me is if he resigns and fast forward down the line a Republican becomes the governor of New York state a lot of things will happen that I won't be happy with. I mean, let's talk about for a second Cuomo's good points. He raised the minimum wage to $15 in New York state. He pushes for gun control all the time, he’s pro same-sex marriage. He was great during Hurricane Sandy. There are things that he’s done that I appreciate, and I don't want some Republican coming in there and overturning these policies and either exonerating or pardoning Trump who is going to be indicted in New York State. So let’s think carefully what we’re doing here, fellow Democrats.
Sunny Hostin also wanted Cuomo to get his “due process” (something she wouldn’t allow for Justice Brett Kavanaugh.) She called for the media to force Florida Governor Ron “Death-Santis,” South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and Texas governor Greg Abbott to resign too.
But in the next segment, Behar and Hostin were far more angry at Republican Senator Johnson saying he would’ve been more afraid on January 6 if it has been “Antifa or Black Lives Matter” storming the Capitol.
Fuming, Behar declared “fictitious” Antifa, “doesn’t even exist.” She also spread the debunked media myth that a police officer was “bludgeoned to death:”
If I was surrounded by people carrying weapons, people erecting nooses, screaming hang Mike Pence, bludgeoning a police officer to death, I might be a little scared. But Ron, no he's not scared of these people. He's scared of this fictitious idea of Antifa, a thing that doesn't even exist. He needs to go. He needs to go. And soon.
As each host declared the Republican, a racist, Hostin defended BLM as a peaceful movement. She also backed up Behar’s claim that Antifa was made up:
He said it out loud, ‘I am not afraid of insurrectionists who stormed our Capitol and tried to upend our democracy, but I am afraid of black people peacefully protesting according to their God-given Constitutional rights.’ He should be ashamed of himself. He also doubled down actually to ABC News and basically said, well, yes, because the Black Lives Matter protests and Antifa, this fictitious Antifa, there were 570 -- out of 77,000 protesters, 570 turned into violent riots that killed 25 people. He was citing this data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. That project actually responded and said he was bastardizing and twisting that data because actually, the Black Lives Matter protests were not violent. They were actually not violent and there was aggressive intervention by police, counter demonstrators like militia groups and car ramming attacks that made those protests violent. Not black folks. Not black people. I would say, you know, stop being afraid of black people exercising their constitutional rights, Ron Johnson…
Later, conservative co-host Meghan McCain attempted to correct her co-hosts’ obviously false statements.
"Antifa does exist. The Anti-Defamation League has come out and said it's a both dangerous and counterproductive organization. The actual Portland courthouse was set on fire this very weekend,” she pointed out adding she had friends who have been reporting on Antifa’s violence “for months” and one was hurt by these activists.
Summing up, she concluded, “We can say Ron Johnson is an absolute moron, we can say not all activism is violent but the idea that Antifa doesn't exist is just, just factually inaccurate and wrong and a lie.”
Behar didn’t like being corrected. She jumped back in at the end of the segment to double down on her false statement.
“I just want to clarify that Christopher Wray who is the FBI director says that Antifa is an ideology, not an organization,” she stated, adding that they were not in the Capitol.
McCain shot back: “I’m not saying they were involved in the Capitol siege, I’m saying they exist!” Behar tried to bow out of the conversation with, “I'm done. I said my thing. You said yours.”
But McCain held her feet to the fire: “You said it was a fantasy! You said Antifa doesn’t exist and it’s a fantasy!”
As the pair continued to argue, the show cut to commercial.
The View's lies were paid for by sponsor Lysol, contact them at the Conservatives fight back page here.
Read relevant transcript portions, below:
The View
3/15/2021
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Can anybody explain what this man is talking about? Can anybody tell me what is he saying? He's scared of black people? We're not going anywhere so he better get over it. What is he saying, sunny?
JOY BEHAR: You know he’s right out there. Hee's right out there with his racism. No dog whistle for him. It's like I'm a racist. Have a nice day. You know what I mean? It’s funny when I was watching this, It was so aggravating to listen to this idiot. I mean, he and I are very different. I’ll tell you right now; If I was surrounded by people carrying weapons, people erecting nooses, screaming hang Mike Pence, bludgeoning a police officer to death, I might be a little scared. But Ron, no he's not scared of these people. He's scared of this fictitious idea of Antifa, a thing that doesn't even exist. He needs to go. He needs to go. And soon.
…
MEGHAN MCCAIN: I just wanted to say one more thing. Antifa does exist. The Anti Defamation League has come out and said it's a both dangerous and counterproductive organization. The actual Portland courthouse was set on fire this very weekend and federal officers had to deploy munitions, tear gas, flashbang grenades at the courthouse. What separates Antifa is their willingness to use violence. I have very good friends who have been reporting on Antifa for months and months and months and I actually have a friend who was hurt reporting on it. We can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can say Ron Johnson is an absolute moron, we can say not all activism is violent but the idea that Antifa doesn't exist is just, just factually inaccurate and wrong and a lie.
….
JOY BEHAR: I just want to clarify that Christopher Wray who was the FBI director says that Antifa is an ideology, not an organization. There’s no sign that they were involved in the Capitol siege, let’s be clear.
MCCAIN: I’m not saying they were involved in the Capitol siege, I’m saying they exist.
JOY BEHAR: I'm done. I said my thing. You said yours.
MCCAIN: You said it was a fantasy! You said Antifa doesn’t exist and it’s a fantasy--
BEHAR: I said it’s an idea, not a real thing!
MCCAIN: No it’s not!
[cuts to commercial]
