Posted on 30 November 2020
Like the rest of the media, The View hosts praised Joe Biden’s decision to pick an all-female senior communications team for his incoming administration on their Monday show. The return of familiar Obama-era figures excited co-host Sunny Hostin who touted how wonderful it would be to have an administration friendly with the press again.
Co-host Sara Haines gushed over the “amazing news” while complaining that Trump’s female communications team “discouraged” her because they “toed the line” for Trump (as if Biden’s team won’t?):
It harkened the present administration because when I think a lot of the messaging coming out of the White House, I think of Kellyanne Conway, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Kayleigh McEnany, and you name them, and it shows you that the message matters more than the messenger. If it's not trickling down from the top with a strong message that can kind of unify, you can't really manipulate it through the messenger because that lineup of women was discouraging for me over time with -- and it was because they were toeing the company line through, you know, what Trump was doing with his administration. So I don't think the fact that it's women will change it, but I like that it's women because I think it's a step forward in a historical aspect as you mentioned in the intro.
However, Hostin was thankful for a return to a more “traditional relationship with the press” noting that the women chosen already had “strong relationships with the press” (ie: appear on CNN and MSNBC as contributors and analysts.) She gushed how the sexist attacks against female CNN reporters would stop:
I think that it points to a return quite frankly to a move to a more traditional relationship with the press. Trump was very effective in damaging the reputation of reporters and constantly attacking reporters because he wanted his word to be final. He wanted his supporters to believe only what he said, and not what they saw in the news, and, you know, he really eroded the First Amendment. So I'm actually quite pleased that he picked not only women, but these women in particular because they have strong relationships with the press. I mean, remember how Trump used to attack reporters like Abby Phillips, reporters like Yamiche Alcindor, April Ryan, Kaity Collins. It was a constant, at that point, attack of female reporters predominantly, I mean, he did have that back and forth with Jim Acosta. I think this is a point in the right direction because we know that now we'll have a more traditional relationship with the press.
Joy Behar agreed adding, “They need to fumigate the room first to get rid of the lying that went on there for years.”
The show hosts went on to gush about how more women needed to be in leadership. This led Behar to complain that if Hillary Clinton were in charge, the United States wouldn’t lead the world in COVID deaths (a misleading statement since the U.S. actually has a lower COVID mortality rate than most other countries, according to Johns Hopkins):
“Don’t we all believe at this point, I know I do, if Hillary Clinton were president instead of Trump for the last four years, we would not have -- we would not be number one in the world in COVID cases and COVID deaths?” she gushed to her co-hosts agreement.
Whoopi Goldberg also whined about the 2016 election results earlier in the show, saying that election "really had a lot of holes in it:"
The other crazy thing is all of those -- all of those Republicans who tried their damndest to make sure that no one could say that there was any shenanigans going on, who made sure that the vote was crystal clear and done well, they are paying the price for upholding the laws of the country and making sure that this election unlike the last one, which really had a lot of holes in it, and nobody says anything about that. Nobody wanted to hear that...
Ensure, Vick’s and L’Oreal sponsored this segment, you can contact The View’s advertisers at the Conservatives Fight Back page here.
Read the transcript, below:
The View
11/30/2020
11:18:50 AM EST
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: So what do you think these women will bring to the table, Sun? Sunny?
SUNNY HOSTIN: Well, you know, I think that they -- you can call me Sun, Whoop. That's what we call each other off camera. I think that it points to a return quite frankly to a move to a more traditional relationship with the press. Trump was very effective in damaging the reputation of reporters and constantly attacking reporters because he wanted his word to be final. He wanted his supporters to believe only what he said, and not what they saw in the news, and, you know, he really eroded the First Amendment. So I'm actually quite pleased that he picked not only women, but these women in particular because they have strong relationships with the press. I mean, remember how Trump used to attack reporters like Abby Phillips, reporters like Yamiche Alcindor, April Ryan, Kaity Collins. It was a constant, at that point, attack of female reporters predominantly, I mean, he did have that back and forth with Jim Acosta. I think this is a point in the right direction because we know that now we'll have a more traditional relationship with the press.
WHOOPI: Right. Do you think that -- do you agree with that, Joy?
JOY BEHAR: Yes. I think she's got -- she's right. They need to fumigate the room first to get rid of the lying that went on there for years.
I read a study of a group of seven nations. The United States, the UK, Canada, Italy, France, Germany and Japan, and they found that young people are less comfortable with women leaders than older age groups. I, you know, it's, like, are they not watching what's going on? Do they not know about Angela Merkel and I believe her name was Indira Gandhi, right? Even Margaret Thatcher. I mean, these have been great woman leaders, all of them, no matter what side of the aisle you're on. It's almost like they're not paying attention, these millennials. I think it's millennials, yeah. As far as putting these women in, I think Joe Biden is now demonstrating correctly that women can run things really well, and we're all going to be a witness to it. He's got Kamala Harris in the second position, you know, that's the first time we've seen that. So let the world see how well women can do--how well women can do when they’re put in the spot where they can do the job.
HOSTIN: And Joy -- Joy to your point, we know that women leaders have done really well when it comes to the pandemic response, right? Think about Australia and New Zealand.
BEHAR: Right.
HOSTIN: They're proven to be effective leaders time and time again. If you look at any study, and I mean Harvard has a tremendous amount of data on this. Women have in comparison to men, I hate to say it, but it's true, have more leadership skills when given the opportunity.
BEHAR: Don't you believe --
HOSTIN: Unfortunately often times we’re not.
BEHAR: Don’t we all believe at this point, I know I do, if Hillary Clinton were president instead of Trump for the last four years, we would not have -- we would not be number one in the world in COVID cases and COVID deaths.
HOSTIN: Absolutely.
BEHAR: I just believe that. I don't think Hillary would have lied to the American people. She would have been interviewed by Bob Woodward, and she would have said, this is a terrible thing, and we have got to clamp down on it right away.
HOSTIN: Yes.
BEHAR: I know she would’ve done that! So yes to your point, I agree.