ABC News let loose with the incendiary and inciting rhetoric against President Trump during Wednesday’s edition of The View. The liberal ladies continued to lie about taxpayers footing the bill for the new White House ballroom that was under construction. According to them, Trump was playing some sort of shell game with his presidential salary and legal fees to cover the construction that made him equal to a “mob boss.” They also suggested Republicans were going to steal the midterms and the ballroom was proof Trump wasn’t going to leave office.
Their pearl clutching and View-anon conspiracy theories were sparked by Trump’s apparent attempt to get the federal government to reimburse him for his legal fees (for all the fruitless investigations into him he had to defend against) being a similar price tag to the ballroom, though not exactly the same.
This caused co-host and conspiratorial comedian Joy Behar to voice skepticism of whether or not Trump actually donated his presidential salary at all. Pretend moderate Sara Haines chimed in to backup Behar’s conspiracy theory by suggesting that Trump donating his salary to the White House Historical Association was a devious backdoor way to funnel government funds to the privately funded project:
BEHAR: I love when he says he's going to give it to charity. Like, you know, he claims he gives his $400,000 salary to charity (…) So, oh, he's so generous to give his paltry 400Gs away. And what charity is it? The Foundation for the Destruction of America?
HAINES: Joy, it’s funny you mentioned that, cause his first check, which he also touts he donated; actually went to the White House Historical Association, which is the people that pay for the renovations for the White House. So, he donated to his own renovations of the thing –
It must be hard to have their level of intelligence. Once Trump received his paycheck for being president it was no longer taxpayer money, it was his earnings to do with what he pleased. Behar also had an issue with Trump (his PAC) apparently paying for his presidential portrait. “And his own portrait, too, he paid for,” she huffed.
Haines proceeded to argue about how bad the optics were for Republicans right now and how some were sounding alarms about electability in the midterms. Behar interjected to claim Republicans were going to “cheat” and steal the midterms:
HAINES: The optics are just messing up and I don't how long the working class that, Alyssa, you speak to a bunch, is what really shifted to the Republican right. And how long can he keep them when this is how it's playing out? I really would urge people to listen to the calls coming within the party from people like Senator Ted Cruz and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Words I never thought I’d utter. These are not centrist Republicans. They're typically Trump supporters and they're saying, ‘guys, we're not going to win if this is how angry the other side is. They show up at voting booths and this is not going to work well for us.’
BEHAR: Well, they will win if they cheat. That’s what they’re going to do.
She was followed up by co-host Sunny Hostin who wanted to “speak plainly to people” and said Trump’s actions were “giving mob boss” vibes. “That’s what this is. He is extorting and looting the federal government, at is – in my view, and he's extorting and looting the federal government at he’s already extorting and looting,” she circularly talked.
She insisted it was a “fact that our tax dollars now, if he gets this $230 million, is going to be used to renovate a White House which he never intends to leave!” And seemingly ignorant to how Trump lived prior to becoming president, he proclaimed that, “we are basically as taxpayers providing Trump and his family a lifestyle that he otherwise couldn't afford.”
“Let's call him the coppo de tuto drifters,” Behar rang again, to Hostin’s approval: “Yes! That's basically what this is.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
October 22, 2025
11:03:15 a.m. Eastern(…)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: So, this will also be decided – the part that really tickles me. It's going to be decided by some of the same Justice Department lawyers who worked with him on these past cases. So Americans, the question is, are you on board with all of this? This is like a cash grab. And your taxes are probably going to be paying for that – [laughter] that ballroom.
SUNNY HOSTIN: That tacky gaudy ballroom!
GOLDBERG: I mean, it's kind of kooky.
JOY BEHAR: I love when he says he's going to give it to charity. Like, you know, he claims he gives his $400,000 salary to charity, but it so happens that according to The New Yorker, the Trump family has made over $3.4 billion since he first entered the White House in 2017. So, oh, he's so generous to give his paltry 400 Gs away. And what charity is it? The Foundation for the Destruction of America?
SARA HAINES: Joy, it’s funny you mentioned that, cause his first check, which he also touts he donated; actually went to the White House Historical Association, which is the people that pay for the renovations for the White House. So, he donated to his own renovations of the thing –
BEHAR: And his own portrait, too, he paid for.
HAINES: I didn't check on that part. But I think this all comes down again as we talk about him demanding money from the government as, again, the optics of this. He is, according to Forbes, a billionaire. 7.3 billion. The national debt of this country is $37.9 trillion. The government is shutdown. Federal workers aren't getting paid. They're lining up at food banks. There are videos of this all over. And he's grabbing money from the very government he says he's going to put first while funding money to give to Argentina.
The optics are just messing up and I don't how long the working class that, Alyssa, you speak to a bunch, is what really shifted to the Republican right. And how long can he keep them when this is how it's playing out? I really would urge people to listen to the calls coming within the party from people like Senator Ted Cruz and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Words I never thought I’d utter. These are not centrist Republicans. They're typically Trump supporters and they're saying, ‘guys, we're not going to win if this is how angry the other side is. They show up at voting booths and this is not going to work well for us.’
BEHAR: Well, they will win if they cheat. That’s what they’re going to do.
HOSTIN: You know, I think we need to speak plainly to people and I think we need to call it like it is. This is giving mob boss. Right? That’s what this is. He is extorting and looting the federal government, at is – in my view, and he's extorting and looting the federal government at he’s already extorting and looting.
Because, as you mentioned, since 2017, his family has made $3.4 billion. He was just caught on tape in October 2025, it was supposed to be the Middle East, you know, Gaza cease fire summit, speaking to the president of Indonesia asking for the president of Indonesia to meet with his son, Eric, probably about a business deal. What else? How about that $400 million plane from Qatar? His private plane [uses air quotes]. How about the fact that our tax dollars now, if he gets this $230 million, is going to be used to renovate a White House which he never intends to leave!
So, that’s what this is. This is about a mob boss extorting the government for his own personal, I guess, you know, gratitude and enrichment. And we are basically as taxpayers providing Trump and his family a lifestyle that he otherwise couldn't afford.
BEHAR: Let's call him the coppo de tuto drifters.
HOSTIN: Yes! That's basically what this is.
(…)
