Whoopi Goldberg almost got the bleep treatment (again) during Wednesday’s (October 1) live episode of The View while discussing the ongoing federal government shutdown — particularly when it came to the Donald Trump administration’s response to it.
The shutdown, which commenced at midnight Eastern time after the Senate failed to pass a short-term funding bill due to disagreements between the in-power Republicans and the minority party Democrats over Affordable Care Act subsidies. Naturally, it was the first “Hot Topic” of the day on Wednesday morning’s show, and Goldberg started the segment by setting the record straight on what really caused the failure to govern.
“The [Trump] administration is claiming this is about Democrats wanting to give health care to undocumented people. This is not true,” Goldberg said. “The Democrats want federal subsidies to continue to help American citizens afford Obamacare policies and reverse cuts to Medicaid. Neither one of those changes would provide health coverage to undocumented immigrants. They are not eligible for any of those programs, none of them, and haven’t been for decades… They’re not telling you the truth.”
“They keep throwing them out of the country anyway,” Joy Behar then said. “I don’t know what they’re talking about.”
Sunny Hostin then made sure to note, “But those that are here that may be undocumented do pay millions and millions of dollars into our system, into our Social Security, into other programs for Americans that are citizens. And so I think that’s something that, of course, Republicans aren’t talking about. The Democrats should be talking about that as well.”
“I think the American public loses when the government shuts down. I argued it last time when people were saying Chuck Schumer and Democrats shouldn’t vote to fund the government. I think this is a loss for the American people,” Alyssa Farah Griffin said. She then predicted that Democrats regret allowing the shutdown to happen and said they should have tried to pass their concessions in a standalone bill. “I don’t see how this is possibly a win for the public, for the American people, to be honest, for the Democrats, I don’t see them coming out of this as winners. They’re going to regret it.”
“This is about the fact that Obama’s legacy legislation was the Affordable Care Act, and Donald Trump and the Republicans want to take it away. That’s what it’s about,” Hostin then added. “The Republicans were smart enough to stop saying they wanted to repeal Obamacare, because we learned that they don’t have anything to replace it with, but they are quietly chipping at it… Almost 14 million Americans could lose their health insurance altogether over the next decade. That is what this fight is about. And I think the Democrats are doing the right thing to take that on.”
“I am one of the 34% or whatever … that’s just plain pissed off that this keeps happening, because I think politicians run on problems, they don’t solve them, and this keeps happening,” Sara Haines then said. “I was curious when I saw this happen, who’s going to take the blame? Because it is polling that Republicans are going to take more blame, but surprisingly, they usually blame the party asking for concessions. Historically speaking, the last shutdowns were always blamed on someone asking for something, which is the Democrats. So right now, I think this all comes down to who messages better. Donald Trump is doing what he did when he ran for this election and won. He’s telling a false story, and I want to repeat what you said, Whoopi, about undocumented immigrants. Doesn’t matter about the taxes, anything else, they are not privy. They are not privy to any of the healthcare system. And people need to look that up if they don’t trust me and know it for themselves…. I think the problem here is people need to actually do their own research on this because you cannot trust the messaging right now on the White House.”
Behar then pulled out a quote by Donald Trump from 2013 about who should be blamed for a government shutdown, saying, “When they talk about the government shutdown, they’re going to be talking about the president of the United States, they’re not going to be talking about who is the head of the house, the head of the Senate, who’s running things in Washington. So I really think the pressure is on the president. That’s from Donald Trump himself…. But the people have amnesia in this country. They should call it the United States of Amnesia. People forget everything, but I’m just reminding them, that’s what he said.”
After some more back and forth, in which Griffin said the Democrats need better leadership, Goldberg disagreed.
“No, we just need a better person to compromise with. We need somebody who’s willing to compromise,” she insisted. She then pointed out that Trump promised to “go to work on the Democrats during the shutdown” and questioned, “It’s like, why are you going to work on us? We’re trying to work with you. He wouldn’t meet with them.”
Griffin then countered with, “That’s my warning to Democrats. Donald Trump wants the shutdown. You guys shouldn’t have given him what he wanted.”
As the cue music began, Goldberg suggested that viewers should call their representatives if they are dissatisfied or “make other arrangements for what you need,” adding, “They’re not going to help. It’s that simple. Whatever side you’re on, make other arrangements. Start finding different ways to get what you need because this is not an administration that gives a….” She then stopped herself, threw her hands in the air over almost cursing on air, before continuing, “a daggone … about’cha.”
The View, weekdays, 11a/10c, ABC