ABC News program The View knew that heated political rhetoric could incite someone to political violence, that’s why they joined in calls to bring down the temperature following the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Thus, when they engaged in incendiary rhetoric during Tuesday’s episode – when they insisted that the National Guard was going to steal the upcoming midterm elections – it meant they didn’t care if someone tried to kill National Guard troops to stop them.
The View was irked that President Trump was sending National Guard troops to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from the liberal extremists that have been trying to kill them (which they claimed wasn’t actually happening, but more on that later).
“This is a pretext to stop the next election! That's what I think it is,” shouted co-host Joy Behar.
A short time later, Behar doubled down on her inciting rhetoric that the National Guard was a threat to the country and that they were going to do away with the right to vote:
GOLDBERG: That's what the feeling is.
BEHAR: And if they stop us from voting, that's the one thing people have.
GOLDBERG: I mean, it's the one thing that makes us very different from lots of other countries. Our votes, they do count. I do know that they count.
BEHAR: If we are allowed to vote.
With a tacit acceptance of Behar’s premise, moderator Whoopi Goldberg argued that “people will figure out how to vote” because “They don't want a dictatorship.”
Pretend independent co-host Sara Haines had her own conspiracy theory about the deployment of the National Guard, it was all a distraction:
HAINES: I would say it also might also be a distraction from the hearing that’s going on right now about the Epstein files.
BEHAR: Right!
HAINES: Some things have come up and AG Pam Bondi was dodging questions and attacking back. Do you not think maybe the whole civil unrest story line is maybe overblown?
Earlier in the show, Haines proclaimed that there was no need for the National Guard because she could not personally find any evidence of a threat to the lives of ICE agents and claimed it was actually law enforcement who were the real threat:
I was trying to dig deep because I kept thinking, ‘okay, I'm going to concede is this rising to the occasion where we need the National Guard?’ … I kept looking for a video … The problem is when you go looking for these videos, sometimes the aggressors are the law enforcement and the ICE agents, so that's problematic to their messaging right now.
Haines was either profoundly ignorant, had a massive blind spot in her news consumption, or knew she was lying. ICE agents had literally come under sniper fire at one facility and a gunman ambushed them at another; there was even a ramming attack in Chicago and the liberal leadership told the local police not to aid them.
Goldberg had also clownishly claimed she had “never seen” the Insurrection Act invoked “in my lifetime.” Co-hosts Alyssa Farah Griffin and Sunny Hostin had to inform her that it was invoked during the Rodney King Riots in the 90s.
Behar had really ramped up the rhetoric that could incite someone to violence in recent days. On September 17, she proclaimed that America was “screwed” with Trump as president and Republicans in power. A few days later, on September 30, she crashed out and insisted that “you're delusional” if you think America would “survive” Trump.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
October 7, 2025
11:05: 36 a.m. Eastern(…)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: I don't know if we've ever been here. I know in my lifetime I've never seen.
JOY BEHAR: Well, the Insurrection Act has been ordered by other people. Lincoln and –
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: Rodney King in the 90s.
SUNNY HOSTIN: 1992, H.W. Bush did.
BEHAR: Yeah, they’ve done it
HOSTIN: It wasn't done on January 6, though.
BEHAR: If anybody knows about an insurrection, it's Donald Trump. But, you know, to me --
HOSTIN: It wasn't invoked then. It wasn't invoked then.
BEHAR: The thing about it is that him sending military into Portland. Portland had an ICE facility protest of eight to 15 people. That was it. Then he made -- because he sent them in there, they've – it’s gotten worse. So he creates the problem.
HOSTIN: Yeah.
SARA HAINES: Well, I couldn't find -- you know you watch the January 6 footage – and I think they were just playing some – we all saw that and no one had to tell you how to feel about it. You looked at it and made your own judgment and it was clear to me.
I was trying to dig deep because I kept thinking, ‘okay, I'm going to concede is this rising to the occasion where we need the National Guard?’ This -- The crowds that they are drawing are a fraction of when it's been used in history when they've actually decided to deploy the National Guard into these places. And I would just ask for some consistency then because when I look at the video of January 6, that was very clearly people uprising, vandalizing the Capitol, killing -
HOSTIN: An insurrection.
HAINES: Yeah, very much an insurrection. But there literally – there was video. I kept looking for a video here to say, when are we seeing things to this level? Because his administration is known for it’s messaging and owning a narrative. If they were seeing that I feel they would have pasted it everywhere. The problem is when you go looking for these videos, sometimes the aggressors are the law enforcement and the ICE agents, so that's problematic to their messaging right now.
(…)
11:09:15 a.m. Eastern
FARAH GRIFFIN: There is crime in American cities. But the way to deal with it is get the funding that you need for police, get the training that you need, and work with local officials.
BEHAR: This is a pretext to stop the next election! That's what I think it is.
HAINES: I would say it also might also be a distraction from the hearing that’s going on right now about the Epstein files.
BEHAR: Right!
HAINES: Some things have come up and AG Pam Bondi was dodging questions and attacking back. Do you not think maybe the whole civil unrest story line is maybe overblown?
FARAH GRIFFIN: I think that Donald Trump also sees American troops in U.S. cities as a sign of strength. I think most Americans don't. I think they see it as societal breakdown.
(…)
11:10:48 a.m. Eastern
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: This is -- this is in order to make the case because in their minds, in all of their minds, they now believe they have carte blanche to do whatever they want to.
BEHAR: That's right.
HOSTIN: Yes.
GOLDBERG: That's what the feeling is.
BEHAR: And if they stop us from voting, that's the one thing people have.
GOLDBERG: I mean, it's the one thing that makes us very different from lots of other countries. Our votes, they do count. I do know that they count.
BEHAR: If we are allowed to vote.
GOLDBERG: I think people will figure out how to vote. Because I don’t – One thing I believe I know about Americans is they don't want to be told what to do. They don't want to be -- they don't want that. You know, they don't want it. You can suggest some stuff, but they don't want you saying, you got to go over here and do this. They don't want that. They don't want a dictatorship.
(…)
