Just like the rest of the world, “The View” weighed in on President Joe Biden’s history-making decision to step down and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris. Overall, the group felt Biden will known as one the country’s best leaders, but highlighted the challenges he may have faced if he chose to remain in the race.
“I think it shows what a statesman he is,” cohost Sunny Hostin said, kicking off the conversation. “I think it shows what a patriot he is. I think it shows that he can put his country before his ego, because he has such a great record as president. I think history will note him as one of the greatest presidents that we’ve had. I really do believe that.”
Her remarks are in response to Biden’s Sunday decision not to seek reelection, after which endorsed Harris to run in his place. She continued by saying that while she’s happy about Biden’s support for Harris, the idea that he was shoved out of his role doesn’t sit well.
“I wasn’t comfortable with the notion that people were forcing him out. I wasn’t comfortable with the cannibalization that I saw in the Democratic Party. But I am comfortable if he made this decision with his inner circle, with Dr. Jill Biden, with his family and decided to do it on his own,” Hostin said. “The fact that he has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be his successor, makes it even more clear to me it’s not if she’s going to be nominee, it is when she is the nominee.”
As for Navarro, she called out the Biden naysayers while applauding the former Delaware senator’s political career.
“I’m full of gratitude to Joe Biden today,” Navarro said. “So, Joe Biden, thank you for everything. Over 54 years of career. I was sad in a way that you see a champion athlete leave it all on the field and walk away into the sunset. That made me sad, it gave me nostalgia
Like Hostin, Navarro was unhappy with his treatment at the end.
“I was also mad because he’s been dragged relentlessly by some people who were supposedly his friends. I hope that a lot of those donors that went out and said all sorts of things about him, come back with a big check now … George Clooney … They took us out of the hell that was covid and they took us out of the hell that was Trump.”
Sara Haines felt criticisms of Biden’s age and mental wellbeing were fair enough, given how crucial of a position he plays in the country.
“I do push back a little on Ana and Sunny’s take on the Party imploding,” Haines said. “There is room for criticism when you’re talking about the biggest job in the world, and I don’t think those people that are friends — even George Clooney’s op-ed — was really touching beautifully written, saying this is hard to say out loud. A lot of those people were torn themselves.”
She also pointed out the key difference in how Biden responded to the assassination attempt on Donald Trump versus how Trump handled Biden dropping out by insulting him.
“What jumps out at me is the stark contrast in how Trump handled President Biden stepping down and how President Biden handled [it] after there was an attempt at assassination,” Haines continued. “President Biden picked up the phone and he called former President Trump and he sent well wishes to the family, he right away put out unifying messages, saying ‘We’re in this together. We need to tone the rhetoric down.’ Former President Trump jumped on Truth Social and started to berate him and has continued through this morning.”
Alyssa Farah Griffin pointed out that the way Trump’s team is reacting to Harris’ presidential run is indicative of how prepared they are to take her on as a competitor.
“I said a year ago, the history books will remember him very kindly if he knows to pave the way for someone else come up behind him,” Griffin said. “The reality was, it was going to be a really big uphill battle for him if he stayed in the race, and I would look no further than the absolute meltdown that’s happening on the Trump campaign.”
Lastly, Whoopi Goldberg opened up about how she feels the attacks against Biden’s age only perpetuated the idea that people of a certain age are unable to operate efficiently in their jobs.
“I’m bored by it, and I’m going to tell you why. The messaging that we have put out to people over a certain age is horrific,” Goldberg said. “We have basically said, ‘Hey, you know what, we kind of think if you’re over a certain age, you don’t really have what it takes to do the job that you’re doing. That’s the messaging that we’ve put out. So I’m bored by hearing that.”
Goldberg continued by saying that she’s not putting all her eggs in Harris’ basket, as far as a presidential option, just yet.
“I’m also bored by people saying, ‘Well, you know it’s the next generation, it’s the next generation,’ it’s an unknown. We can believe what we like to believe, and I love Kamala and have defended her from day one,” Goldberg said. “I know she can do the job. I would have preferred my Democrats to do this to do this not publicly and in everybody’s face, because what it did was it had a sitting, having to talk about this endlessly. And not being able to say, because we couldn’t have two-way conversations about this kind of thing … so I’m bored by, ‘Oh my God, what’s going to happen?’ I know that the American people, regardless of who the nominee is, it’s going to be up to the people.”