The segment that triggered this response was in regards to Trump’s baseless claim that former President Barack Obama tried to “lead a coup” in the past. Behar countered that it was Trump who provoked the January 6 riots, adding (via Entertainment Weekly), “The thing about him is he’s so jealous of Obama, because Obama is everything that he is not: Trim, smart, handsome, happily married, and can sing Al Green’s song ‘Let’s Stay Together’ better than Al Green. And Trump cannot stand it. It’s driving him crazy.”
In an emailed statement to EW, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers slammed The View for hitting “the lowest ratings” in recent years (a characterization The View disputes), writing, “Joy Behar is an irrelevant loser suffering from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Rogers added that Behar “should self-reflect on her own jealousy of President Trump’s historic popularity before her show is the next to be pulled off air.”
Trump has long run his administration like something out of a mafia movie, operating on bullying and intimidation, so it’s impossible not to read this statement as a veiled threat. Further, the phrasing of the “next” show to be “pulled off air” sure seems like a sneaky way to take credit for ending The Late Show. Like CBS, The View‘s network ABC has already fielded a lawsuit from Trump that resulted in a settlement and an apology from George Stephanopoulos. The network has been kissing the ring to a galling degree ever since, as when ABC News let go of journalist Terry Moran for calling Stephen Miller a “hater.” A Daily Beast report in May claimed that Disney CEO Bob Iger even told The View co-hosts to turn down their Trump bashing. And while celebrating Colbert’s firing last week, Trump couldn’t resist adding, “I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next.”
Letting the president control any media narrative—especially the ones about himself—looks a lot like fascism from where we’re standing. Even if the Colbert cancellation truly wasn’t politically motivated, it clearly emboldened the current administration to escalate its intimidation of Trump’s enemies. Hopefully the ladies of The View are allowed to continue exercising their right to free speech amid an increasingly scary media landscape.
