Key Points
- The View stars reacted to eight Democrats siding with Republicans in a Senate deal to potentially end the shutdown.
- “I welcome this deal,” Alyssa Farah Griffin said, while Sunny Hostin cast “shame on the Democrats.”
- Whoopi Goldberg labeled those in power as “idiots” amid the longest shutdown in American history.
The View cohosts shook the Hot Topics table with an impassioned debate about the longest government shutdown in American history.
After eight Democrats “agreed to vote to advance three bipartisan annual spending bills and extend the rest of government funding until late January in exchange for a mid-December vote on extending the health care tax credits,” as summarized by the Associated Press, conservative panelist Alyssa Farah Griffin kicked off the Hot Topics chat by praising the development.
“I welcome this deal,” Griffin told her colleagues, expressing confusion over the alternative approach that would see “42 million people losing SNAP benefits ahead of the holidays” while Democrats “hold out for those 22 million whose premiums are going to go up” on the other end of the spectrum.
“That math doesn’t math for me. I think adults need to get to the table and be willing to negotiate,” the former Donald Trump White House staffer stressed, further noting that she feels the Democrats will “look like losers” if they squabble within the party.
Things got slightly more tense when Sunny Hostin and Sara Haines argued over how Democrats handled the shutdown.
“Look, let’s be clear, the Republicans run the House, the Republicans run the Senate, the Republicans run the White House, the Republicans run the Supreme Court, as far as I’m concerned,” Hostin, a former federal prosecutor, said from her post.
She then called it a “choice” to cut SNAP benefits and “gut the federal government and federal employment” amid the shutdown. She added that “Democrats had nothing to do with it” as she placed all blame on Republicans.
Of the eight Democrats who sided with Republicans to advance the vote, Hostin said, “I think the Democrats caved, I think the Democrats let down the American people.” Addressing moderator moderator Whoopi Goldberg, Hostin said, “And like you, Whoopi, I have absolutely no faith that the Republican party will come to the negotiating table in good faith. You do something like this, shame on you, the first time, you do it twice, three times, four times, shame on me, shame on the Democrats for believing that the Republicans will even vote on it.”
She continued, “Democrats went into this after a blue wave, the American people saying we do want the opposition, the working people want the Democratic party to fight for them. And now, they just caved and surrendered. I think Chuck Schumer, his days are over. If he can’t keep his caucus together, he needs to go.”
Haines said that she “completely” disagreed with Hostin, observing that it’s not truly an “opposition” when “you have no power” over the other branches of government. “We need food on the table,” Haines said, suggesting that she supports anything that delivers it to those who need it.
“By doing this now, you open the government,” Haines said, later adding, “Let the American public know that Democrats did their best and how they’re saying enough is enough…. Anything that happens here that was promised and isn’t delivered, completely on the Republicans.”
Ana Navarro, also a Republican, criticized Trump for traveling to Mar-a-Lago in Florida during the shutdown, and lamented his decision to host “another fancy party with towers of seafood and champagne” during the struggle.
Goldberg finished the exchange by pointing out that the United States is “the richest country in the world,” and calling the six-week shutdown “crazy” for its lengthy nature.
Still, the EGOT-winning Ghost actress pointed out the good she sees in American citizens supporting one another.
Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.
“This is what we’re doing as Americans, people are going out, they’re bringing food out of their own kitchens and bringing it to neighbors,” Goldberg said. “That’s what we do, and that’s what we’re going to keep doing until these idiots figure out what the hell they’re doing.”
Among the eight Senate Democrats who moved to advance a vote that could reopen the government, New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said in a recent public statement that “waiting another week or another month wouldn’t deliver a better outcome,” as a defense for her position.
The View airs weekdays on ABC. Watch The View cohosts break down the latest in the government shutdown in the video above.
