With co-host Whoopi Goldberg taking here usual Friday off, most of The View cast seemed to feel empowered to confront racist Sunny Hostin after she tried to defend Ilhan Omar, the antisemitism Minnesota Democratic Congresswoman who, after spewing hate for years, was punished on Thursday for when she was stripped of her position on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Hostin was caught off guard, scrambling to take swipes as co-host Joy Behar led Sara Haines and Alyssa Farah Griffin in the pile-on.
After some obligatory bashing of Republicans with cries of “hypocrisy” and “racism,” Behar put the spotlight on Omar, saying she didn’t buy Omar’s assertion that she didn’t know she was using anti-Semitic tropes when talking about Jews and Israel. “Believe me I understand that. Because the right wing is very hypocritical. But she said that she did not know that what she said that was construed as anti-Semitic … I don't believe her,” she declared.
Hostin quickly stepped in to defend Omar by arguing that she didn’t know about anti-Semitic tropes because she’s an immigrant and supposedly only America was anti-Semitic. Behar immediately stepped in to call out Hostin’s nonsense:
HOSTIN: I do. I think she's an immigrant. I think she’s had a different experience.
BEHAR: She's been here a long time.
HOSTIN: That's a trope that’s largely – you hear in this country. So, I’m not surprised she didn’t know.
BEHAR: That is not a trope – excuse me! That is not a trope that is just here in this country. That is a worldwide trope.
“Maybe it’s everywhere,” Hostin clownish conceded.
On the back foot, Hostin shifted to playing her tried and true race card, calling the focus on Omar “pure racism” and demanded: “We should call that out when we see it and we hear it and we look at it.”
NewsBusters agrees. So, here are some examples of Hostin and Goldberg being racist in just the last year or so (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).
And, of course, she boiled down any criticism of Omar to a form of “racialized target[ing].” “Other members of the caucus of the Republican caucus have targeted her. And so, the suggestion that somehow that it’s merely hypocrisy I think devalues what this really is and that's racism,” she sneered.
After some whataboutism with a couple of congressional Republicans, Haines teed up on Omar and called out the “more-complex conversation here in addition to and beyond racism.” She pointed out that while Omar might apologize for what she says about Jews, “she keeps stepping into the same puddle. So, eventually, you have to say, ‘Your actions speak louder than words.’”
Omar keeps stepping into the same anti-Semitic puddle Goldberg bathes in.
With Hostin reeling, Farah Griffin saw an opening. “I’ve consistently said Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Paul Gosars they shouldn't be on committees. But I don’t think she should be on the Foreign Affairs Committee,” she proclaimed.
Farah Griffin drew attention to Omar’s ridiculous suggestion that the U.S. and Israel were like Hamas and the Taliban, and how she used the same anti-Semitic tropes proliferated by Nazi propaganda master Joseph Goebbels:
She’s equated Hamas, a U.S. State Department-designated terrorist organization, with the U.S. and Israel, as well as the Taliban. But she also trafficked – I’m not going to repeat it because we have to be careful with that – a trope about Jews controlling power, which dated back to a Nazi-era film produced by Goebbels about a Jewish person hypnotizing people for power. She does not understand the policies she’s working on.
Hostin was so twisted up that her swipes were landing on herself. “I think that’s devaluing her by saying she doesn’t understand foreign policy,” she chided Farah Griffin, despite previously using Omar’s ignorance as a defense just moments earlier.
Sunny Hostin’s defense of Ilhan Omar was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Vicks and Mars. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC The View
February 3, 2023
11:05:31 a.m. Eastern(…)
JOY BEHAR: I have to say about her, though, something she said that I’m not sure – I mean, I get what you're saying. Believe me I understand that. Because the right-wing is very hypocritical. But she said that she did not know that what she said that was construed as anti-Semitic, she didn't know that was what they call a trope, a Jewish trope. And that she didn’t know that. That people equate money with Jews, for instance. I don't believe her.
SUNNY HOSTIN: I do. I think she's an immigrant. I think she’s had a different experience.
BEHAR: She's been here a long time.
HOSTIN: That's a trope that’s largely – you hear in this country. So, I’m not surprised she didn’t know.
BEHAR: That is not a trope – excuse me. That is not a trope that is just here in this country. That is a worldwide trope.
HOSTIN: Maybe it’s everywhere. Let me just say this --
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: She was on the Foreign Affairs Committee. She should know better.
HOSTIN: The other piece of it, Joy. It that, I think – I take her at her word that she didn't know. And she nevertheless apologized and met with Jewish members of her caucus.
BEHAR: Fine, that’s good.
HOSTIN: That other thing is, I don't think this is hypocrisy. I think its pure racism. And I think we should call that out when we see it and we hear it and we look at it.
I don't think its hypocrisy because she was elected in 2018 I believe. Yeah, 2018. She has been the subject of targets, racial targets, or racialized targets since then. Donald Trump said during one of his rallies in 2019 that she should be -- send her back. Other members of the caucus of the Republican caucus have targeted her. And so, the suggestion that somehow that it’s merely hypocrisy I think devalues what this really is and that's racism.
SARA HAINES: Couldn't it be racism -- absolutely she's experienced racism. But with her, the hard part is I think there's hypocrisy involved which taints the water. You can't Paul Gosar and Marjorie Taylor Greene back on committees and then saying, “Oh, this is about antisemitism.”
But I do think there is a more-complex conversation here in addition to and beyond racism, which is, she has said things and apologized, but she keeps stepping into the same puddle. So, eventually you have to say, “Your actions speak louder than words.” Because she does it, a couple years later she does it again and then a couple –
HOSTIN: Do you think --
HAINES: So I think it’s a fair decision has to be made that she’s not on this specific committee.
HOSTIN: Do you equate –
[Crosstalk]
FARAH GRIFFIN: I’ve consistently said Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Paul Gosars they shouldn't been on committees. But I don’t think she should be on the Foreign Affairs Committee.
HOSTIN: Why?
FARAH GRIFFIN: This is a committee tasked with Israeli-U.S. relations. She has shown a lack of understanding of antisemitism at a time when it’s on the rise in the U.S. and around the globe.
She’s equated Hamas, a U.S. State Department designated terrorist organization with the U.S. and Israel, as well as the Taliban. But she also trafficked – I’m not going to repeat it because we have to be careful with that – a trope about Jews controlling power, which dated back to a Nazi-era film produced by Goebbels about a Jewish person hypnotizing people for power. She does not understand the policies she’s working on.
If she wants to deal with refugees on a committee, because she has expertise and experience, I'm there for that.HOSTIN: I
think that’s devaluing her by saying she doesn’t understand foreign policy.
BEHAR: But not this committee. This committee would be considered on-the-job training when it comes to Jewish relationships.
(…)
