In a recent episode of the talk show, The View, panelist Joy Behar sparked controversy with her remarks on supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Behar suggested that those who don the popular 'Make America Great Again' caps are symbolically aligning themselves with Nazi ideology.
"By the way out there," Behar stated, "that hat that you keep wearing, that red hat that says 'Make America Great Again,' that tells people that you go along with this, so you might as well just put a swastika on the hat."
Her comments were made during a discussion about a video posted on Trump's campaign social media. The video, which has since been deleted, appeared to use a template mimicking vintage newspapers from the World War I and II era, briefly flashing a newspaper headline mentioning a "unified Reich."
However, Behar's remarks were met with resistance later in the show from guest Bill Maher, who cautioned against labeling half the country as Nazis.
"I'm not gonna defend Donald Trump, ever, but I would never say that we should put the swastika on the cap because I think you can hate Donald Trump, [but] you can't hate everybody who likes him," Maher countered, referencing Behar's earlier comments.
"It's half the country," he continued. "I don't want to live in a country where I hate half the country, and I don't hate half the country."
According to the BBC, the Trump campaign later clarified that the controversial clip had been posted by a junior staff member and was not an official video.
Maher, while disagreeing with Behar's comments, defended her right to express her views. "Joy is a wonderful human being and she should not be afraid that people are going to attack her because she said the thing about the swastika on the cap," Maher said, addressing Behar directly. "As you said to me in the break, you do not think that all the people who are for Trump are Nazis."
Login