In the year 2024, ABC's "The View" became a hotbed for political discourse, with one particular incident being credited by analysts as a significant factor that swayed voters away from Vice President Kamala Harris on Election Day.
The show's co-hosts conducted numerous interviews with high-profile politicians and media personalities, predominantly from the Democratic party, throughout the year. These included President Biden, Vice President Harris, Gov. Tim Walz, Hillary Clinton, and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. According to Fox News, these interviews led to several noteworthy moments that shaped the political landscape of 2024.
One such moment occurred in October during a live interview with Vice President Harris. Co-host Sunny Hostin asked Harris if she would have done anything differently from President Biden in the past four years. Harris responded, "Not a thing comes to mind." This statement quickly gained traction online, as critics had previously chastised Harris for not distinguishing herself sufficiently from the president during the campaign.
Harris also expressed her desire to concentrate on at-home healthcare and revealed plans to appoint a Republican to her cabinet during the interview. However, after her electoral defeat, political commentators attributed her loss to Trump, in part, to her response to Hostin's question.
James Carville, a seasoned Democratic strategist, asserted post-election that Harris' unsuccessful campaign could be boiled down to that moment on "The View."
In a surprising turn of events, President Biden withdrew from the race following a pressure campaign from Democrats at the end of July. This decision came after a disastrous debate performance against Trump. Biden made history as the first sitting president to join the co-hosts for a live interview on the show.
During the interview, Biden dismissed any notion of apprehension or reluctance from his fellow Democrats about his potential re-election bid. "I never fully believed the assertions that somehow there was this overwhelming reluctance of my running again. I didnt sense that," Biden said. He clarified that his decision to step down was not due to pressure from Democrats but was a result of contemplation about his age.
When asked by Griffin if he believed he would have won in November had he remained in the race, Biden confidently responded, "Yes. I was confident I would beat Trump he's a loser."
The co-hosts of "The View" expressed their dismay at Trump's victory, with Hostin expressing concerns about "internment camps" and mass deportations the morning after Election Day. "I'm profoundly disturbed," Hostin said. "I think if you look at The New York Times this morning, the headline was America makes a perilous choice.' I think that in 2016, we didn't know what we would get from a Trump administration, but we know now. And we know now that he will have almost unfettered power."
Hostin attributed Trump's victory to racism, misogyny, and sexism, and posed a poignant question in one of the episodes following the election, "What is wrong with this country that they would choose a message of divisiveness, of xenophobia, of racism, of misogyny, over a message of inclusiveness, a message for the people, by the people, of the people?"
Despite pushback from her fellow co-hosts, Hostin maintained that racism and misogyny played a significant role in Trump's victory, citing her "lived experience."
The day after the election, Hostin, Behar, Ana Navarro, and Griffin, who had announced her support for a Democrat for president for the first time in her life, appeared to be wearing black. Goldberg and Sara Haines did not follow suit.
Hostin and Navarro suggested that President Biden pardon his son, Hunter Biden, days before the official announcement. They argued that if Trump, a "convicted felon," could be elected to the presidency, then Biden should pardon Hunter. However, after the pardon was issued, co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin accused the president of lying, as he had repeatedly vowed not to pardon Hunter. Goldberg defended Biden, instructing Griffin to stop labeling it as a lie.
In a contentious interview in March, Hostin accused Coleman Hughes, a Black author and frequent CNN political commentator, of being used as a "pawn" by the GOP. Hughes, the author of "The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America," joined the co-hosts of "The View" to discuss his book. Hostin challenged Hughes, saying, "Your argument for colorblindness, I think its something that the right has co-opted, and so many in the Black community, if Im being honest with you, because I want to be, believed that you are being used as a pawn by the right and that you are charlatan of sorts."
Hughes defended his position, stating, "I dont think Ive been co-opted by anyone. Ive only voted twice both for Democrats. Im an independent. I would vote for a Republican probably a non-Trump Republican if they were compelling. I dont think theres any evidence Ive been co-opted by anyone and I think thats an ad-hominem tactic people use to not address, really, the important conversations were having here."
After Trump was convicted in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels in 2016, the co-hosts were jubilant. "I felt like America won," Hostin said. "I felt like New York won. I felt like the Manhattan DA's office won. I felt like I won."
When Harris joined the co-hosts of the show in October, Goldberg confidently introduced Harris as the "next president of the United States."
Hostin criticized Nikki Haley, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, for being "inauthentic from day one," after viewing a clip of Haley becoming emotional while speaking about her husband, who was deployed to Djibouti in 2023 as part of the South Carolina Army National Guard.
"I think that there's something that military families go through. I come from a military family as many of us do, and I dont trust her authenticity," Hostin said. "No, I didn't feel that it was authentic, and I didn't trust it."
In the months leading up to the June debate that eventually led to President Biden dropping out of the race, Joy Behar, a staunch supporter of the president, was confident he would "wipe the floor" with Trump.
First Lady Jill Biden also sat down with the co-hosts in May 2024. When asked by co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin about the polls showing Trump leading her husband, the first lady expressed confidence that the Biden campaign would turn the numbers around. "Joe has been traveling as much as possible, and were not going to take anything for granted and those polls are going to turn, Im confident of it," she claimed. "I believe that Americans are going to choose good over evil."
The year 2024 was a tumultuous one, marked by intense political debates and unexpected turns. ABC's "The View" played a significant role in shaping the political discourse, with its co-hosts' interviews and discussions influencing public opinion and, arguably, the outcome of the election.
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