Political commentator and television host S.E. Cupp sat in as a guest host for “The View” on Tuesday, offering sharp criticisms of political leaders who continue to push back against vaccine mandates — most recently, Texas governor Greg Abbott.
The panel of women have discussed the topic often this year, continuously questioning why the vaccine has been so politicized. On Tuesday, Behar noted that she’s confused why President Biden is being slammed for increasing COVID numbers, if politicians like Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are the ones pushing back against vaccines.
“They’re playing politics with peoples’ lives,” Cupp said angrily, after guest host Sherri Shepherd asserted that the move is one purely intended to gain favor with Donald Trump. “This is politics. You are absolutely right Sherri, this is about boosting Trump’s anti-vax idiocy. And, I got to be honest, I’m a conservative. I’m a limited government, small government, ‘get out of my way’ conservative. But if there’s any time for governments to mandate stuff, it’s during a pandemic when jackasses are taking my public health into their own hands.”
Cupp then doubled down on her criticisms of Abbott directly, after Behar clarified that Abbott is also a self-proclaimed “small government guy.”
“Have you seen that in evidence?” Cupp shot back. “This doesn’t feel small government to me, telling businesses what they can do. No, these guys have decided to be ‘Trump Conservatives.’ And that’s different.”
Host Sunny Hostin eventually circled back to Behar’s original question, as to why these things are then reflecting poorly on Biden, admitting that she doesn’t understand it either, citing actor George Clooney’s claims that Biden inherited many of the country’s current largest problems from his predecessor.
The rest of the panel agreed that the move doesn’t quite line up with typical conservative agendas and policies. You can watch the full segment from “The View” in the video above.