Joy Behar was a purported “comedian,” but during Tuesday’s edition of ABC’s The View, she decried the idea of the court jesters speaking truth to power and warned that comedy was the source of dictators. She blamed former President Obama for endangering the world because he made fun of former President Trump at a dinner. She also, insanely, accused comedian Charlie Chaplin of creating Adolf Hitler and ultimately the Holocaust.
“[Trump] is one of the most dangerous people of my lifetime to ever be in the Oval Office!” Behar shouted. “He is probably the most dangerous. So, you have somebody like -- And he doesn't have a good sense of humor.”
Behar traced Trump’s desire to become president all the way back to the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner where Obama and comedian Seth Meyers poked fun at Trump:
BEHAR: We all know at the correspondents’ dinner when President Obama made a joke about him --
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: That was the beginning of the end.
BEHAR: His skin is thinner than his hair. And he got so pissed off, that he had to run for president and go after poor Obama, who was born in this country. He is a menace.
“So, I present that to this panel. What are you supposed to do?” Behar shouted to the panel, apparently looking for advice on whether it was appropriate to make fun of Trump.
Co-host Sara Haines didn’t buy into Behar’s hysteria. “The problem is that hate and fear are dividing things. It pits people against each other on purpose. Comedy is uniting which is why comedy is always where I go when things are the scariest in life,” she argued.
Behar feared the idea of making fun of Trump and suggested his supposedly comedy-fueled rise was a mirror to that of Hitler’s, which she blamed on Chaplin and his 1940-classic The Great Dictator for creating:
BEHAR: But Sara – Sara, that is true. That's what I'm trying to say here. But the man doesn't take it.
[Crosstalk]
BEHAR: They made fun of Hitler. Charlie Chaplin made fun of Hitler in 1940, by 1945, millions and millions were dead!
Unfortunately for Behar’s revisionist history, that’s not what happened.
In reality, Hitler became chancellor in 1933 and became Fuhrer in 1934. He invaded Poland in 1939, which historians agree marked the start of WWII. And while the Wannsee Conference (the 90-minute meeting to plan what would become known as the Holocaust) did occur in 1942, Hitler’s marginalization of Jews in German started when the Nazis took power in 1933. Additionally, some of the concentration camps were already in operation as prisons prior to the conference.
“But because he's so thin-skinned, isn't it just funnier when he's mocked?” staunchly racist and anti-Semitic co-host Sunny Hostin put the focus back on Trump. “No! But it makes him angry. I don't know what he'll do next. I mean, I could make a joke about him and he'll annihilate the whole world!” Behar panicked.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
January 30, 2024
11:16:36 a.m. Eastern(…)
JOY BEHAR: He is one of the most dangerous people of my lifetime to ever be in the Oval Office!
[Applause]
He is probably the most dangerous. So, you have somebody like -- And he doesn't have a good sense of humor. We all know at the correspondents’ dinner, when president Obama made a joke about him --
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: That was the beginning of the end.
BEHAR: His skin is thinner than his hair. And he got so pissed off, that he had to run for president and go after poor Obama, who was born in this country. He is a menace.
So, I present that to this panel. What are you supposed to do?
FARAH GRIFFIN: That’s my TED Talk.
SARA HAINES: The problem is that hate and fear are dividing things. It pits people against each other on purpose.
[Phone goes off]
Comedy is uniting which is why comedy is always where I go when things are the scariest in life. You need someone to keep us laughing about what makes -- [Laughter, leans on Whoopi Goldberg]
FARAH GRIFFIN: She didn't even say anything.
BEHAR: That’s true but – but –
HAINES: She didn't have to! She just made a face! [Laughter]
BEHAR: But Sara – Sara, that is true. That's what I'm trying to say here. But the man doesn't take it.
[Crosstalk]
BEHAR: They made fun of Hitler. Charlie Chaplin made fun of Hitler in 1940, by 1945 millions and millions were dead! So, you have –
HAINES: I mean everyone else! Everyone else! The audience needs to laugh. The people need to laugh. I don't care. I’m not checking on Trump. I need everyone else to be okay.
SUNNY HOSTIN: But because he's so thin-skinned, isn't it just funnier when he's mocked?
BEHAR: No! But it makes him angry.
HOSTIN: It makes him angry.
BEHAR: I don't know what he'll do next. I mean, I could make a joke about him and he'll annihilate the whole world!
(…)
