The View: Hiring Zacharia Was Racist, Firing Her Was Sexist

Nicholas Fondacaro
October 19th, 2026 3:07 PM

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During Monday’s episode, The View’s Cackling Coven played a little game of ‘heads I win, tails you lose’ with President Trump. While it would be expected for them to mock the firing of now-former Press Secretary Katie Zacharia, they took it to a cartoonish level. According to them, the hiring of Zacharia was racist because it was offensive to black female lawyers, and then her subsequent firing was sexist because she’s a woman. So, no matter what he did, The View was going to blow hot air over it.

On top of that, moderator Whoopi Goldberg engaged in more electioneering and told soldiers and their families to vote against Trump because Zacharia’s firing was somehow tied to mistreatment of them.

“I'm going to put the blame on Donald Trump, but I’m going to put the blame on her as well. Because she did go to law school, but to call yourself a lawyer or an attorney (…) that many times, over and over and over again and misrepresent the fact that you did not pass the bar is an important thing,” co-host Sunny Hostin said.

Flaunting her chronic racial grievance, Hostin went on to shout about how the whole situation with Zacharia’s hiring was racist because black women like her who had passed bar exams get asked about their credentials (Click “expand”):

And, um, I - I think lying at your credentials is an important thing, especially at a time in this country where women and women of color in particular, we are constantly questioned about our credentials, and our qualifications. And let me show you just a couple of people who did pass the bar. I think we have it here.

Okay? So. Uh-huh. So, Kamala Harris passed California's bar exam. Michelle Obama passed the Illinois bar exam. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who this president called a dummy, graduated from Harvard Law School and was admitted to practice in Massachusetts and D.C. And Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, who he has a lot to say about, became a licensed Texas attorney in 2006. I became a licensed attorney as well.

 

 

There were no such cries of racism from The View when then-candidate Joe Biden announced he would only being looking at black women to be his running mate, nor when he would later do something similar when looking for a press secretary and settling on Karine Jean-Pierre, putting race above qualifications.

Despite the fact that Trump was clearly caught off guard by Zacharia saying she was only licensed to practice law in China, without evidence, Goldberg suggested he actually knew the truth ahead of time and hired her anyway.

“I mean the real thing is it can't come as a shock because he doesn't tell the truth,” she scoffed. “So, it's just, you know? I'm sure he thought, ‘well, they're never -- they're never going to know.’ But she -- I have to put it on her and I put it squarely on her because she passed herself off as this person and nobody questioned it.”

 

 

Keeping the grievance train rolling, Goldberg suggested Zacharia’s firing was sexist because Trump supposedly only fired women, which was a lie. She then proceeded to falsely claim Trump had fired every woman in the military from generals to enlisted to analysts throughout the government; or “the qualified people” as she called them (Click “expand”):

GOLDBERG: Not for nothing, you know, think of all the women who have been taken out of their jobs, all the generals.

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: Two-star, three-star generals.

GOLDBERG: All the -- all of the women in our military, all of the women -- all the analysts who have been removed.

HOSTIN: The qualified people.

GOLDBERG: The qualified people. And this, I hope, fires people up because listen, no matter where you sit, you want qualified people doing the job. You want -- I don't care who you are. You know?

 “If you're a family of a soldier, if you have military in your family, you know what needs to be done,” Goldberg proclaimed, using the opportunity to do some electioneering.

 

 

Goldberg called on those families to rise up and oppose Trump:

Because you can't go around disrespecting the military. They do all the stuff we don't do. We can't continue to allow people to treat them the way they have been treated. There's just so, so many things that we have to shift. And it's -- you know? And this isn't right nor left. This is nobody wants this for their military. Nobody. Nobody wants this. It's enough, I think. It's enough. So, make sure you get out there and vote. We'll be right back.

It’s a good thing she tacked on the “get out there and vote” line right at the end, because it was almost sounding like she was calling for a military coup.

The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:

ABC’s The View
October 19, 2026
11:07:53 a.m. Eastern

(…)

SUNNY HOSTIN: I'm going to put the blame on Donald Trump, but I’m going to put the blame on her as well. Because she did go to law school, but to call yourself a lawyer or an attorney -

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: That many times.

HOSTIN: That many times, over and over and over again and misrepresent the fact that you did not pass the bar is an important thing.

And, um, I - I think lying at your credentials is an important thing, especially at a time in this country where women and women of color in particular, we are constantly questioned about our credentials, and our qualifications. And let me show you just a couple of people who did pass the bar. I think we have it here.

[Points at the screen]

[Cheers and applause]

Okay? So. Uh-huh. So, Kamala Harris passed California's bar exam. Michelle Obama passed the Illinois bar exam. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who this president called a dummy, graduated from Harvard Law School and was admitted to practice in Massachusetts and D.C. And Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, who he has a lot to say about, became a licensed Texas attorney in 2006. I became a licensed attorney as well.

And so, I think it's important to, you know, not to lie about your qualifications. And especially when you have this sort of government that is attacking black women, that is attacking -- taking our jobs away from us. You look at the racial gap now between white families and black families, it's at an all-time low.

If we're going to talk about DEI, let's talk about the people that didn't earn it. Let's talk about the people that are in this administration that are unqualified.

GOLDBERG: I mean the real thing is it can't come as a shock because he doesn't tell the truth.

[Crosstalk]

GOLDBERG: So, it's just, you know? I'm sure he thought, ‘well, they're never -- they're never going to know.’ But she -- I have to put it on her and I put it squarely on her because she passed herself off as this person and nobody questioned it. They just assumed, you did this, you did that. Now we find you didn't do it and I must say I'm glad she's gone. It'll be interesting to see who replaces her.

HOSTIN: She's got time to study for the bar now.

(…)

11:11:26 a.m. Eastern

GOLDBERG: Not for nothing, you know, think of all the women who have been taken out of their jobs, all the generals.

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: Two-star, three-star generals.

GOLDBERG: All the -- all of the women in our military, all of the women -- all the analysts who have been removed.

HOSTIN: The qualified people.

GOLDBERG: The qualified people. And this, I hope, fires people up because listen, no matter where you sit, you want qualified people doing the job. You want -- I don't care who you are. You know?

And I really believe that people are fed up with people who haven't worked as hard as they have, who haven't gotten to where they've gotten, only to be dusted off and thrown away. People are not happy. And I believe --

NAVARRO: And to your point, it's the damnedest thing he's gotten rid of all the unqualified women. I mean, I'm not shedding tears for Kristi Noem or Pam Bondi or Katie Zacharia or any of them. But all the unqualified MEN are still there, one is running a war and the other is running the Health Department.

GOLDBERG: Yes, they are. Yes, they are.

HAINES: One is running the country.

NAVARRO: And one is running the country too.

GOLDBERG: That’s right. And if you’re - If you're a family of a soldier, if you have military in your family, you know what needs to be done. Because you can't go around disrespecting the military. They do all the stuff we don't do. We can't continue to allow people to treat them the way they have been treated. There's just so, so many things that we have to shift. And it's -- you know? And this isn't right nor left. This is nobody wants this for their military. Nobody. Nobody wants this. It's enough, I think. It's enough. So, make sure you get out there and vote. We'll be right back.

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