Hosts of The View ‘So Confused’ by Voter Concerns with Crime, Inflation

Caroline Downey
·3 min read

On their roundtable show Thursday, the hosts of The View explained their befuddlement with voters being alarmed and motivated by persistently high inflation and crime.

“GOP candidates’ big messages are blaming Biden for inflation and that Democrats are soft on crime. I mean, who knows what’s resonating now, I’m so confused by everything I’m seeing,” Whoopi Goldberg said as she threw up her hands.

“You would think, there used to be a way to stamp out the lie, but I guess lie’s the new it,” she added.

While Biden alone is not responsible for inflation, he oversaw the spending of trillions of dollars on federal Covid-19 relief and infrastructure that likely exacerbated inflation.

Goldberg also failed to mention why Democratic officials, specifically progressive bail reform-pushing prosecutors in cities experiencing record assaults, break-ins, and lawlessness, should be immune from criticism.

In 2020, around the time the pandemic erupted, murder soared nearly 30 percent to a two-decade high, according to FBI statistics. Violent crime, including offenses such as rape and assault, increased 5.2 percent then too. In 2022, murders and gun assaults dropped 2 percent and 6 percent respectively, according to the nonpartisan Council on Criminal Justice think tank. However, property crimes, robberies, auto thefts, and residential burglaries are all up nationwide, 19 percent, 15 percent, and 6 percent respectively.

In reference to President Biden’s latest statements, Joy Behar said he’s been trying to appeal to the “intelligence” of the American voter in acknowledging inflation but reminding that there are causes beyond his control. She deflected to the example of Hungary, which she called a “dictatorship” with “20 percent inflation,” which she claimed some conservatives want to emulate.

She suggested voters are being stupidly swayed by fears about inflation. People may be struggling to afford necessities like food and gas but they’re not “comprehending the seriousness” of the peril the GOP poses to democracy, she implied. In an address Wednesday, President Biden argued that “democracy itself” is at stake in the upcoming elections.

“This is what we can look forward to with all these Republicans in office,” Behar warned of the projected GOP sweep. “As I always say, inflation fluctuates. Democracy does not. We need to know that.”

Former Trump official Alyssa Farah, who’s supposed to be the token conservative on the progressive-dominated panel, was dismissed by her co-anchors for arguing that Biden’s speech was the “wrong closing message for Democrats if they want to win the midterm elections.” Even though Democrats insist that Russia’s war in Ukraine and global phenomena are to blame for skyrocketing inflation, that’s not a compelling case for Americans being squeezed at the pump and in the store, Farah said.

“There’s going to be a red wave,” she said, eliciting boos from her colleagues. If the GOP recovers control of Congress, it will have been a referendum on Democrats in power, she added.

On the abortion issue, Sunny Hostin said women who vote Republican will be voting against their own interests, tone-deaf to the fact that many women find the procedure and the government’s potential facilitation of it morally reprehensible.

“I read a poll just yesterday that white Republican suburban women are now going to vote Republican. It’s almost like roaches voting for Raid,” Hostin said.

Farah objected, “That’s insulting to the voter. Do we love democracy or not? People make decisions on what’s right for their family.”

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