Former co-host of ABC’s The View, Rosie O’Donnell got her desperately needed dose of public attention recently after she announced that she left the United States and moved to Ireland because Donald Trump was president. The bonkers move from the insane 9/11 truther was lauded during Friday’s episode by co-hosts Sunny Hostin and Ana Navarro as rational.
“So, our former co-host of The View, Rosie O’Donnell, has a long-standing feud with Donald Trump that dates back years before he became president. And now that he's back in power, she’s just made a drastic move,” announced Friday moderator Joy Behar ahead of this stitched together soundbite:
ROSIE O’DONNELL: I'm here in Ireland. [Transition] Although I was never someone who thought I would move to another country, that's what I decided would be the best for myself and my 12-year-old. [Transition] And I'm trying to find a home here in this beautiful country. And when, you know, it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America, that's when we will consider coming back.
“Oh no, he's going to be mad at Ireland now. Here comes the potato tariff,” Behar mocked.
Hostin responded by calling Trump “a toddler,” and suggesting, “His frontal lobe is not really fully developed, in my opinion. And so, he probably suffers from that imposter syndrome.”
Later in the segment, Hostin again proved herself to be a sore loser, because – according to her – since Trump won the election, it meant America’s “democracy” “doesn't seem to be working right now.”
“It doesn't seem to be working for everyone,” she further whined. She also huffed that O’Donnell was “one of the few people that can pick her life up and move it somewhere.” “Most of us are stuck here,” she exclaimed.
In 2023, Hostin claimed China was a better country for black people to live in because “[America is] putting more black people in jail here.” She also praised how she felt safer in Africa. “I felt real good in Ghana,” she touted.
As a multi-millionaire, Hostin and her family certainly have the means to leave the U.S., but the likely reason she couldn’t was because of the fact that her surgeon husband was swept up in a massive RICO investigation for insurance fraud.
The other member of the cast to throw their full weight behind endorsing O’Donnell’s self-imposed, attention-driven exile was Nicaraguan immigrant Ana Navarro:
[I]f you’re Rosie O’Donnell, who he hates…and you are listening to him threaten Liz Cheney and looking at him go after law firms, and you are listening to him saying he's coming back to be the retribution, and you know how ruthless and vicious he is , and that he personally hates you, and you have a 12-year-old with special needs, and you want to bring her up in a place of love and peace, and you have the resources and ability, then you make the hard decision of leaving, good for her.
“It’s good that she's fought her entire life, she's putting herself first. I’m very supportive,” Navarro proclaimed.
While co-host Sara Haines didn’t come out strongly for either O’Donnell leaving or staying, she did tout America. “I would absolutely believe that this country is imperfect and progress is slow, but I wouldn't want to live anywhere else,” she said.
The other purported conservative at the table, Alyssa Farah Griffin also talked up America and busted the liberal fantasy of Europe. “I think Americans love to think we're so far behind and Europe is so progressive and ahead of us. It's just not really the case,” she argued. “We're the one where you're most likely to come in from one socio-economic class and in your lifetime be in a completely different one. This table doesn't exist in a lot of Europe.”
While Hostin scoffed at her and claimed America was “pretty racist,” Farah Griffin declared that America “still is the greatest nation on Earth.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
March 14, 2025
11:03:25 a.m. Eastern(…)
JOY BEHAR: So, our former co-host of The View, Rosie O’Donnell, has a long-standing feud with Donald Trump that dates back years before he became president. And now that he's back in power, she’s just made a drastic move. Watch.
[Cuts to video]
ROSIE O’DONNELL: I'm here in Ireland. [Transition] Although I was never someone who thought I would move to another country, that's what I decided would be the best for myself and my 12-year-old. [Transition] And I'm trying to find a home here in this beautiful country. And when, you know, it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America, that's when we will consider coming back.
[Cuts back to live]
(…)
11:04:15 a.m. Eastern
BEHAR: Oh no, he's going to be mad at Ireland now. Here comes the potato tariff!
Why can't Trump let this go? This has been years now. He's still got -- as the Italians go, over here for Rosie O’Donnell.
SUNNY HOSTIN: Can you remind us what it is that she said about him or did to him? Because it's almost like -- You know, he's a toddler. His frontal lobe is not really fully developed, in my opinion. And so, he probably suffers from that imposter syndrome.
(…)
11:06:30 a.m. Eastern
ANA NAVARRO: But I do know, that if you’re Rosie O’Donnell, who he hates – and in fairness, she hates him, it's mutual –
BEHAR: Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
NAVARRO: - and you are listening to him threaten Liz Cheney and looking at him go after law firms, and you are listening to him saying he's coming back to be the retribution, and you know how ruthless and vicious he is , and that he personally hates you, and you have a 12-year-old with special needs, and you want to bring her up in a place of love and peace, and you have the resources and ability, then you make the hard decision of leaving, good for her. It’s good that she's fought her entire life, she's putting herself first. I’m very supportive.
(…)
11:07:55 a.m. Eastern
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: So, I do think it's important just to remember that America's bigger than the president. And I want to acknowledge especially the LGBTQ community may feel uncomfortable in certain states right now. I just talked to Kara Swisher on our podcast yesterday about this.
And I get if you have the means and you want to make that decision. But I also remind folks, I think Americans love to think we're so far behind and Europe is so progressive and ahead of us. It's just not really the case.
BEHAR: No.
FARAH GRIFFIN: We remain the most ethnically diverse nations on Earth. We're the one where you're most likely to come in from one socio-economic class and in your lifetime be in a completely different one. This table doesn't exist in a lot of Europe. On LGBTQ rights issues we are about as advanced as most of Europe.
SUNNY HOSTIN [While grimacing]: We’re pretty racist too, though.
FARAH GRIFFIN: Well, we have way more diversity, though, which is a good thing. And when you're a completely homogeneous nation like Denmark –
[Crosstalk]
BEHAR: But you know what? That's why people are upset because we like this country. We want to stay the way it's been.
FARAH GRIFFIN: But that’s my point though. This country is bigger than whose president for four years. I just think it's important people remember -- there are places I wouldn't be able to get IVF treatments in Europe. Like, we put a lot— Love my European friends, but we put everyone on kind of this pedestal and act like America is so backward and broken.
BEHAR: Who does that?
FARAH GRIFFIN: I think this still is the greatest nation on Earth.
HOSTIN: It's a young democracy that doesn't seem to be working right now. So, I do think –
FARAH GRIFFIN: I believe more in America than Donald Trump's ability to ruin it.
BEHAR: I hope you’re right.
HOSTIN: It doesn't seem to be working for everyone. And I think that's Rosie O’Donnell’s prerogative and that’s her point. It doesn't work for her family and she is one of the few people that can pick her life up and move it somewhere. Most of us are stuck here!
SARA HAINES: I would absolutely believe that this country is imperfect and progress is slow, but I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
BEHAR: All right. We got to go.
