In addition to the closely watched Pennsylvania Senate debate Tuesday night, the debate between New York gubernatorial candidates Kathy Hochul (D) and Lee Zeldin (R) also played out. Their comments on crime drew the attention of ABC’s The View on Wednesday and mentally unstable co-host Sunny Hostin took things to a dangerous place when she tried to justify an attempted assassination against Zeldin, citing how “he’s hated” and “divisive.”
The Zeldin bashing began with co-host Whoopi Goldberg, who was shouting about how he supposedly doesn’t have a plan to fight rising crime (while Hochul supposedly does despite the rise happening under her leadership).
“What is your plan, Lee Zeldin?!” she screeched.
Goldberg also refused to listen to his plan after conservative co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin offered to give it to her.
Farah Griffin defended Zeldin by noting that he and his family have been victims of the crime wave in New York, including an assassination attempt made against him. “Lee Zeldin was nearly stabbed on stage while campaigning in New York. A bullet came within – ” she began to say before Sunny Hostin interrupted with her justification of the attempted murder.
“Well, he’s hated. That's true,” Hostin scoffed. And she got backup from Goldberg, who declared: “Yeah. That is true.” The lone conservative pushed back and called Hostin out, but she doubled down, arguing that “he is divisive.”
Goldberg became irate as Farah Griffin listed how Zeldin and his family have been first-hand witnesses to the crime wave and downplayed it as something that just happens in New York. “No, he's familiar with what just happened to him ‘cause that’s New York. That's New York City right now,” she howled.
As Farah Griffin was spelling out “the Senate Republican plan” to fight crime and the liberal “defund the police” movement, Hostin insanely started screaming about how “New York is one of the safest cities in the country!” Farah Griffin countered by admitting she doesn’t feel safe at all:
HOSTIN: It has a $5 billion budget!
FARAH GRIFFIN: Do you feel that though? I don't feel safe in New York.
HOSTIN: It has a $5 billion budget for the police!
FARAH GRIFFIN: I live in the city. I don't feel safe in New York.
Telling the truth caused co-host Joy Behar to scold her for being too young to know any better and accused her of “exaggerat[ing] the situation.” “You're very young. You are. You're 32 years old, was it? You know, I have been around, and there were worse crime rates in the 80s and the 70s,” she chided. “I was afraid to leave my house at some points.”
Sara Haines came to the rescue and admitted she too doesn’t feel safe in New York City. “My perception tends to rule the day on crime. And I’ve said over and over, right now, for the first time in New York City the last couple of years, I have felt less safe than I have before that,” she said.
Armed with statistics, Haines noted that The Council on Criminal Justice found that 29 of America’s biggest cities were experiencing a 30 percent increase in crime.
Hostin, who claimed New York was the safest city in America and that people “don't care about broken window crimes,” responded to Haines by shouting about how the New York Police Department was fabricating their crime numbers “because they want to keep that $5 billion budget.” “Why not divert some of those funds then to mental health, to homelessness, to education?” she shouted.
Of course, she didn’t provide any evidence.
Hostin’s justification for an assassination attempt against a Republican was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Sandals and Procter & Gamble. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
October 26, 2022
11:16:06 a.m. Eastern(…)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: What is your plan, Lee Zeldin?! Because we know people are getting stabbed. We know what's happening. We know what's going on. What do you plan to do?! ‘Cause as I’m saying, she [Gov. Kathy Hochul (D)] at least has a plan.
SUNNY HOSTIN: Well, we certainly didn't hear a plan, I don't think.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: Well, I’d be happy to tell you the Republican plan.
GOLDBERG: No, no. His plan. Just him.
HOSTIN: He voted against the ban on semi-automatic weapons.
JOY BEHAR: Of course, he did.
HOSTIN: And homicides are up. And I think most people – having been a prosecutor, I know this. They care about violent crimes. They don't care about broken window crimes. They really don't care about that as much. They care about violent crimes.
FARAH GRIFFIN: In the last few months, Lee Zeldin was nearly stabbed on stage while campaigning in New York. A bullet came within
HOSTIN: Well, he’s hated. That's true.
GOLDBERG: Yeah. That is true.
FARAH GRIFFIN: That's not okay though. That's horrifying.
HOSTIN: No, I’m not saying that’s okay, but he is – he is divisive.
FARAH GRIFFIN: That mean crime and political violence is on – There was a shooting outside his house that came within 30 feet of his home while his daughters were in the house. He is very familiar with the crime that is going on.
GOLDBERG: No, he's familiar with what just happened to him ‘cause that’s New York. That's New York City right now.
[Crosstalk and applause]
HOSTIN: But New York remains the safest city in the country!
FARAH GRIFFIN: Crime is a very complicated issue because that's absolutely correct that Republican states have the top -- the top ten are Republican states that have the highest violent crime rates, but every one of the biggest cities in those states are run by Democratic mayors. So, we could kind of pick and choose why we think that this is the case that they have the highest crime rates.
What Republicans are running on is more grants to police funding, more grants for detectives, and that we need to look into why rape kits go unprocessed for so long. So we're putting more funding toward that.
GOLDBERG: Which they kept voting against getting the money for them!
FARAH GRIFFIN: No, this is the Senate Republican plan on how we can deal with violent crime.
HOSTIN: I think the plan is fear-mongering. I really do!
[Applause]
FARAH GRIFFIN: No, this is a response to Democrats saying “defund the police.”
HOSTIN: New York has -- New York is one of the safest cities in the country! It has a $5 billion budget!
FARAH GRIFFIN: Do you feel that though? I don't feel safe in New York.
HOSTIN: It has a $5 billion budget for the police!
FARAH GRIFFIN: I live in the city. I don't feel safe in New York.
[Crosstalk]
BEHAR: You're very young. You are. You're 32 years old, was it? You know, I have been around, and there were worse crime rates in the 80s and the 70s.
[Applause]
FARAH GRIFFIN: I agree, but we shouldn't settle.
BEHAR: I was afraid to leave my house at some points.
FARAH GRIFFIN: But we shouldn't settle for that.
BEHAR: No, I'm not settling for it but don't exaggerate the situation.
SARA HAINES: I would actually say she's making some good points here because I – My perception tends to rule the day on crime. And I’ve said over and over, right now, for the first time in New York City the last couple of years, I have felt less safe than I have before that.
(…)
11:18:57 a.m. Eastern
HAINES: Now, the criminal justice -- The Council on Criminal Justice did a specific study on 29 major cities in 2022. The crime rate is ticking down a few percentages, but we're up across – in these 29 cities – up 30 percent from before the pandemic. So, it explains that it's a complicated issue because the statistics are not being processed, but in this one smaller study, it is showing that we're way up across this country, rural and urban.
HOSTIN: We're up 30 percent. That part is true. But when you think about the FBI analysis which you have to remember is police departments self-report. And that's always been the case. That has never changed. If I get to grade myself, I get an “A” every time and that's what's happening here.
New York is probably not reporting all of their crime statistics because they want to keep that $5 billion budget. Why not divert some of those funds then to mental health, to homelessness, to education?
[Applause]
HAINES: If they're not reporting basic data about arrests – If they're not reporting basic data, we’ve bigger problems.
(…)
