With dissenter Alyssa Farah Griffin conspicuously absent from Tuesday’s episode of The View with no explanation, after she called out President Biden for lying about pardoning is son Hunter, the more far-left members of the cast whined and lashed out at those who dared to call Biden a liar. Moderator Whoopi Goldberg argued that such talk was “hurtful” to the country, and co-host Sunny Hostin was engaging in supreme whataboutism.
After playing a series of soundbites of congressional Democrats upset with Biden for lying about not pardoning his son, Goldberg lashed out at Senator Michael Bennett (D-CO) for saying Biden’s lying was “hurtful for the American people.”
“You know what I think is hurtful for the American people? I think what is hurtful is denying that if it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander. He is the president of the United States,” she decried.
Flaunting her ignorance of the pardon process, Goldberg proclaimed that “it is his right and he doesn't have to explain to anybody, this is his right as president. He can pardon -- If he wants to pardon Bozo the Clown, he can pardon Bozo the Clown!”
“So, I'm not sure why, again, people are clutching their pearls – while the left is clutching their pearls because did y'all forget all the stuff that we said was going on or that doesn't matter?” she huffed.
Goldberg then went on a rant about how Democrats can have it both ways because “we take the moral ground all the time” and shouldn’t be chewing out Biden because of it:
I just want to say, Democrats, you can't have it both ways. You can't have it both ways. You can't let people tell you're not taking the moral ground when we take the moral ground all the time! We fight for migrant rights, women's rights, gay folks' rights, trans rights and every time we do suddenly we're being told, ‘oh, you're on the woke agenda.’ Either we are this party and we fight for these things and you see what's going on, and you get why he's decided to do this, or you don't. But you don't go out and chew up other Democrats. This is a big problem, I feel as a Democrat.
Hostin agreed and denounced the “internal firing squad” happening within the Democratic Party. “It's been really bothering me,” she lamented.
“I don't think that he was lying,” she proclaimed as she proceeded to blame President-elect Trump for Biden pardoning his son. She argued that Trump’s victory brought “changing circumstances,” thus “he became the pragmatic president that we always knew.”
The shouting started while Hostin was engaging in whataboutism arguing that since Trump had told lies, Biden’s lies didn’t matter:
Now, let's talk about lying and I also had to write it down because I couldn't remember. The Washington Post indicates that President-elect Trump made false or misleading claims, a total of 30,573 times over four years. Just in August of 2024, NPR clocked him at 162 lies during a news conference. October 24th, CNN clocked him 40 separate lies in only two Pennsylvania speeches. So, if we want to talk about LYING, let's talk about THAT and stop this PEARL-CLUTCHING about Joe Biden lying!
Fill-in host Rachel Lindsay demanded everyone “move on” from Biden’s pardon lies and focus on Trump instead. “I think that when it comes to what we need to be focusing on, we need to move on, we need to pick up the pieces from this election, and then think we need to regroup and focus on the next four years. I don't think we need to be worrying about the fact that he is pardoning Hunter Biden,” she said.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
December 3, 2024
11:04:14 a.m. Eastern(…)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: You know what I think is hurtful for the American people? I think what is hurtful is denying that if it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander. He is the president of the United States.
[Applause]
And it is his right and he doesn't have to explain to anybody, this is his right as president. He can pardon -- If he wants to pardon Bozo the Clown, he can pardon Bozo the Clown.
So, I'm not sure why, again, people are clutching their pearls – while the left is clutching their pearls because did y'all forget all the stuff that we said was going on or that doesn't matter?
Because it seems to me – and I have to write it down because I didn't think I would remember it.
SUNNY HOSTIN: Yeah.
GOLDBERG: I just want to say, Democrats, you can't have it both ways. You can't have it both ways. You can't let people tell you're not taking the moral ground when we take the moral ground all the time! We fight for migrant rights, women's rights, gay folks' rights, trans rights and every time we do suddenly we're being told, ‘oh, you're on the woke agenda.’
HOSTIN: Yeah.
GOLDBERG: Either we are this party and we fight for these things and you see what's going on, and you get why he's decided to do this, or you don't. But you don't go out and chew up other Democrats. This is a big problem, I feel as a Democrat.
[Applause]
HOSTIN: That's what's been so troubling to me, sort of this internal firing squad. It's been really bothering me. And what's also been bothering me is, you know, ‘well, Joe Biden should have stuck to what he said. He should have stuck to his promise. He lied.’ Let's just take a little refresher course. I don't think that he was lying. Ana Navarro spoke to Joe Biden and he had every intention not to pardon his son, but once he realized that President-elect Trump is going to be on a revenge tour, there were changing circumstances. He became the pragmatic president that we always knew.
Now, let's talk about lying and I also had to write it down because I couldn't remember. The Washington Post indicates that President-elect Trump made false or misleading claims, a total of 30,573 times over four years. Just in August of 2024, NPR clocked him at 162 lies during a news conference. October 24th, CNN clocked him 40 separate lies in only two Pennsylvania speeches. So, if we want to talk about LYING, let's talk about THAT and stop this PEARL-CLUTCHING about Joe Biden lying!
(…)
11:08:56 a.m. Eastern
RACHEL LINDSAY: I think that when it comes to what we need to be focusing on, we need to move on, we need to pick up the pieces from this election, and then think we need to regroup and focus on the next four years. I don't think we need to be worrying about the fact that he is pardoning Hunter Biden. I don't think that would have changed how the public views politicians at all.
(…)
