With his scheduled appearance on ABC’s The View on Tuesday, Vice President J.D. Vance will be only the third conservative guest allowed to express their opinions on the show in 2026. The announcement brought excitement to many as they anticipated a thrashing of the Cackling Coven, but others still didn’t understand it, thought he was giving them undue attention, and would unnecessarily boost the show. But here’s the thing, The View is not dying the same way late night is or like many on social media claim.
As a NewsBusters study showed, in 2025, The View only has two conservatives express their political opinions in their presents, contrasted with 128 liberals.
By going on the show, Vance is doing what NewsBusters has reported many conservatives have been trying - unsuccessfully - to do for years. It’s an opportunity for a strong conservative to have the opportunity to push back in a way that they’re not used to and have actively protected themselves from.
On an episode of their Behind the Table podcast last year, faux conservative co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin admitted that they didn’t want guests who would try to generate a viral “moment.” It was a sentiment echoed by fake Republican co-host Ana Navarro on their podcast last week, when she whined about Vance’s appearance. By “moment” they mean someone calling out their hypocrisy and nonsense directly and embarrassing them.
We saw their aversion to strong conservative guests in 2023, when The View thrice rejected requests from Texas Senator Ted Cruz to make an appearance on the show, despite being on the show multiple times. Cruz’s last appearance on the show involved him getting on set with a literal pocket full of receipts to call out their hypocrisy and bias.
The disbelief that Vance would want to go on the show stems from conservatives drastically underestimating The View’s popularity.
I’ve seen many a commenter suggest that since none of their friends watch The View, they must not have a large audience. I’ve even been accused of being the one keeping the show on the air because of my viral video posts on X.
But here’s the rub. America is a country of over 340 million people. There are fandoms for bands, shows, movies, streamers, Instagram personalities, YouTubers, etc., that number into the hundreds of thousands or even millions that you’ve never heard of and give the content creator a comfortable or even extravagant lifestyle. Just take Critical Role, for example (if you’re Googling them, thanks for proving my point).
According to TV Insider, “The View continues to rank number one in households and total viewers among daytime talk shows (with 2.638 million viewers on average, and a 1.79 rating in the key audience demographic), above NBC’s Today Third Hour (2.081 million and 1.36 rating), Today with Jenna & Sheinelle (1.445 million and a .94 rating), and NBC News Daily (with 1.430 million and a .95 rating).”
That 2.6 million blows even their cable news competition out of the water (including in the coveted 25-54 demographic). That means they’re not going anywhere.
The other key factor that gives them staying power is that they’re profitable in a way that the late-night comedy shows just aren’t.
While late-night relies on ad revenue, The View has multiple income streams. In addition to their ad revenue, they have “View Your Deal,” a segment where they highlight lifestyle, home décor, makeup, kitchen, health products, etc., from many different brands and sell them at a usually steep price cut on their website.
They also have a special sponsorship from a local hotel in New York City, which they direct their studio audience to stay at when they’re coming for the show. Additionally, they’ll run special segments sponsored by certain medical device companies, health and beauty companies, and even a maker of artificially grown diamonds.
In short, they make bank.
Conservatives pretending The View doesn’t exist doesn’t affect their ability to influence those who hang on their every word. It just means they’re going unchallenged. Like it or not, they’re a force and conservatives need to take the opportunities granted to them to appear so they can shatter their carefully tailored fantasy world of lies.
The harder they flail in the aftermath of a conservative’s appearance, the more it hurts ABC and Disney’s argument they’re a “bona fide news program,” which is before the FCC.
When your opponent gives you an opening, you exploit it.
