The View’s back-and-forth position on the need for third parties could give viewers a serious case of whiplash. On Monday’s episode, the ABC hosts proved themselves to be hypocrites yet again when they suddenly weren’t for the existence of third-party candidates in the 2024 presidential race. This outcry against third parties came the same month they literally begged former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney to run third party to hurt former President Trump. This time, they feared for President Biden.
Staunchly racist and anti-Semitic co-host Sunny Hostin feared for a repeat of 2016, saying she “just learned today” about how then-Green Party candidate Jill Stein had impressive enough margins that some say it harmed then-Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton:
Yes. Yes. I am very concerned…But I just learned today, that when Jill Stein ran and it was Trump versus Hillary, there were three states, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, where Stein's vote total exceeded Trump's margin of victory. So, had she perhaps not been part of it, Hillary Clinton would have been president.
Faux conservative Ana Navarro recalled “when Ross Perot was a spoiler for George Herbert Walker Bush.” According to her hysterical take, the world couldn’t afford Trump getting elected president again because he’s not only an “existential threat to democracy” but also “to the universe!”
“There's a lot of credible people who we know who’ve left No Labels now, including my husband, including Larry Hogan,” she touted.
Normally a proponent for third parties, co-host Sara Haines declared: “This is not the time for a third party.” “Although, I'm on board for a split ticket third party going forward after this election. I would love that,” she added.
“We are a bipartisan situation right now. There is not a runway to bring in a third. Although Alyssa, I do concede polls show people are not super psyched about the candidates in general right now. But there's no room to swap it out,” she warned.
But all their doomsaying about how harmful third parties allegedly were was just an example of their hypocrisy and situational politics. Earlier this month, the cast (particularly Haines and moderator Whoopi Goldberg) literally begged Cheney to run as a third-party candidate to spoil the race to hurt Trump.
“So I wonder would you ever consider, please, would you, please consider being that person? … Would you – please – I'm begging you. Look, I'm on one knee,” Goldberg pleaded. Haines suggested she “would just take a good person” like Cheney, then proceeded to press her to run third party too: “Would you ever run for president?”
And even before they were for third parties (when Cheney would be the candidate), they were against them (when Democratic West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin was the one being floated). In July of last year, they viciously against the No Labels Party, because it could harm Biden. And in November, they lashed out at Manchin because there were rumors he was thinking of running third party.
The other faux-conservative co-host, Alyssa Farah Griffin said the quiet part out loud and called out the fact that, “whenever this conversation comes up, it’s almost like we're all tacitly acknowledging that Biden is weaker than Trump. That’s what it sounds like to me, because if Trump is actually weaker in a general than Biden, wouldn't that mean that we shouldn't be worried he's going to lose more votes?”
They didn’t like being confronted with the truth like that.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
January 29, 2024
11:16:00 a.m. Eastern(…)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Uh, are you concerned with the governor's (Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) concerns about a third party?
SUNNY HOSTIN: Yes. Yes. I am very concerned. I mean, I talk to Joy about it all the time. This is her big, big thing. She always talks about Ralph Nader and how he was a spoiler. But I just learned today, that when Jill Stein ran and it was Trump versus Hillary, there were three states, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, where Stein's vote total exceeded Trump's margin of victory. So, had she perhaps not been part of it, Hillary Clinton would have been president.
ANA NAVARRO: Yeah, and listen. I’m, you know – We’re old enough to remember when Ross Perot was a spoiler for George Herbert Walker Bush. And in that case, that was 1996, and in that case, you had George Herbert Walker Bush who's a sane, good, normal human being running against Bill Clinton. He was a ho, but he was a normal, good human being.
In this case, you have got Joe Biden, a sane, decent, normal human being running against a man who is an existential threat to democracy and to the foreign world, to the international world, to the universe! So, this is not a normal, “Oh, you know what? We can afford to have a spoiler. We can afford to have Manchin running around.” There's a lot of credible people who we know who’ve left No Labels now, including my husband, including Larry Hogan.
HOSTIN: Liz Cheney left also, right?
NAVARRO: I'm not sure Liz Cheney was ever No Labels.
HOSTIN: She wasn't? Okay?
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: I guess my – So, there are definitely concerns of the spoiler effect. I do think this country is overdue for another option than just two political parties, but I think you have to think about how to do that the right way that it doesn't boost the most unfit individual.
My thing is, whenever this conversation comes up, it’s almost like we're all tacitly acknowledging that Biden is weaker than Trump. That’s what it sounds like to me, because if Trump is actually weaker in a general than Biden, wouldn't that mean that we shouldn't be worried he's going to lose more votes?
NAVARRO: No. Because the people who support Trump are cult members and they're not going anywhere. The people who support Biden are normal human beings.
[Applause]
FARAH GRIFFIN: To be honest, I don't think 40 million Americans are cult members. I think there's a lot of people who can close their nose, they don't pay attention to the 24-hour news cycle and they’re like, “Yeah, but the economy was better.”
(…)
11:18:33 a.m. Eastern
SARA HAINES: This is just not the – This is not the time for a third party. Change comes very slowly in this country as we know watching the history that has unfolded here good and bad, it takes time. We are a bipartisan situation right now. There is not a runway to bring in a third. Although Alyssa, I do concede polls show people are not super psyched about the candidates in general right now. But there's no room to swap it out. Although, I'm on board for a split ticket third party going forward after this election. I would love that.
(…)
