Joy Behar, the same co-host of ABC’s The View who thought the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was the military alliance that defeated Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, was back with more of her wisdom during Friday’s show. According to her, two elements of the U.S. Constitution – both present since the founding – were “un-American.”
“These lifetime assignments [to the U.S. Supreme Court] have got to stop and they need to fix the Electoral College also because that's un-American,” she shrieked.
Behar was triggered by newly released, years-old photos of an inverted American flag allegedly outside the home of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito several days AFTER the riot at the Capitol. The latest smear campaign against conservative justices suggested – without evidence – that it was to show solidarity with the rioters.
Ignoring or ignorant of the meaning of an inverted flag, Behar declared it was something wholly invented by “MAGA people”:
Now, in case you don't know, this is something that the MAGA people have adopted as a stop the steal symbol. In other words, when you see that flag upside down, that means stop the steal, which they imagine happened even though Joe Biden did win legitimately. We all know it. Everybody who’s not crazy knows it.
Faux-conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin contributed to the misinformation by misquoting the U.S. Flag Code. According to her: “…the American flag should not be flown upside down except in moments of national – dire national distress.”
The code actually says: “The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.” Historically, an inverted flag has been used my American ships to signal such distress.
Farah-Griffin added that what the Alito’s did was “un-American” and “disturbing” especially since it was allegedly done “days after a riot at the Capitol!” But her argument didn’t make much sense either since she, and many in the liberal media, had suggested that January 6 was a day of dire national distress; much like what she said was the only correct time to fly the flag inverted.
She and the rest of the cast played a round of whataboutism and pretended as though they would be equally upset if a liberal justice did it:
FARAH GRIFFIN: But I would note this to my conservative friends defending this, let's just say if Justice Sotomayor had hung a flag upside down after Donald Trump was elected we would call for her resignation.
BEHAR: That’s right!
HOSTIN: We sure would!
Since The View didn’t care to criticize Sotomayor when she refused to recuse herself and issued a ruling that directly involved her book publisher, it’s safe to say they wouldn’t have anything to say on the matter.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
May 17, 2024
11:15:42 a.m. EasternJOY BEHAR: So, the Supreme Court – very iffy these days – is getting ready to deal with cases involving presidential immunity and obstruction charges against Trump. Okay? The January 6th insurrectionists also, they're ready to deal with all those cases. But a photo has just emerged from days after the Capitol Riot on January 6th showing an upside down American flag flying outside – wait for it – Justice Alito's house.
Now, in case you don't know, this is something that the MAGA people have adopted as a stop the steal symbol. In other words, when you see that flag upside down, that means stop the steal which they imagine happened even though Joe Biden did win legitimately. We all know it. Everybody who’s not crazy knows it.
SUNNY HOSTIN: It was proven.
BEHAR: It was proven over and over and over again. Yet Justice Alito has this upside down flag. Now, he claims his wife did it. Thank you, Senator Menendez, another one. In a dispute with neighbors saying she did it because she was disputing with neighbors about their anti-Trump signs on their lawn, even that -- even that annoys me that the wife is worried about anti-Trump signs in her neighborhood.
Do you believe his answer to the thing that his wife did it and he has nothing to do with stop the steal?
HOSTIN: I do believe it. How about Clarence Thomas and Ginni Thomas. Ginni Thomas sent a bus to the January 6 insurrection and Clarence Thomas is sitting on that court listening to insurrection cases. He’s listening to election fraud cases. It's ridiculous!
You know, what upsets me so much about it as an attorney is that the Supreme Court has always been sort of the bastion of the law. Right? It’s where we look to for guidance and now 60 percent of Americans disapprove of the Supreme Court. Never has the Supreme Court been so -- and they do, right? 60 percent.
[Applause]
It hurts me to my core. And, you know, Justice Sotomayor has said over and over and over again, she said, “will this institution survive” – this is after the Mississippi abortion case – “Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts?” I don't see how it is possible. If you have a Supreme Court justice, even if his wife did it, for days and days and days having that sign there, that is a political expression that has no place!
ANA NAVARRO: I think it's incredibly sad how -- how dysfunctional -- we've seen the dysfunction in Congress and now dysfunction in the Supreme Court. So, Americans have to be watching this and just having this crisis, existentialist crisis of faith in our most important institutions and, look, I think John Roberts has lost control of this court.
HOSTIN: Yeah.
BEHAR: Maybe he agrees with them.
NAVARRO: Well, I don't know if he does or not but he has a duty to the American people as chief justice to make sure that this Supreme Court is at a certain level of decorum and you have Ginni Thomas and Clarence Thomas accepting all sorts of gifts from billionaires and hearing some of the cases and you've got this. I mean, it’s an embarrassment.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: I don't even know -- I don't buy this description. So the U.S. Flag Code states that the American flag should not be flown upside down except in moments of national – dire national distress. I think pointing the finger – If my husband put a flag upside down, I’d say, “what are you doing?!” This is un-American, it’s disturbing.
But I would note this to my conservative friends defending this, let's just say if Justice Sotomayor had hung a flag upside down after Donald Trump was elected we would call for her resignation.
BEHAR: That’s right!
HOSTIN: We sure would!
FARAH GRIFFIN: It’s so, un-American in days –
HOSITN: We sure would.
FARAH GRIFFIN: In days after a riot at the Capitol!
SARA HAINES: It also speaks to—When you’re married to a Supreme Court justice and you are well aware of that, elevate yourself. When responding to yard signs in your neighborhood, you're telling me you're triggered too easy. He's a Supreme Court justice. You're going to hear things. The fact that that was the act she took because she had to get her word in? It’s a really pathetic example –
NAVARRO: Sounds like she belongs in Congress.
HAINES: And your stat is worse, Sunny. It's worse. It's 44 percent of Americans support – have faith in the Supreme Court.
HOSTIN: Yeah.
BEHAR: These lifetime assignments have got to stop and they need to fix the Electoral College also because that's un-American.
FARAH GRIFFIN: They need a code of ethics.
(…)