The witches of ABC’s The View could not resist the opportunity to provide their own spin on the recent indictment of Donald Trump. Moderator Whoopi Goldberg put forth the odd notion that America’s two World Wars fully meant to stop the events of January 6 from happening, “even the oldest person in this room can ever remember anything like this ever happening in the United States of America…Our grandfathers went to fight in World War I and World War II, great-grandfathers to ensure this kind of thing did not happen here”.
Her historical ignorance was another embarrassment for the show that had already faced backlash over Holocaust inaccuracies.
Joy Behar praised Special Counsel Jack Smith and suggested that he was above criticism while turning to legal analyst Elie Honig, who had been seated in the audience, to ask whether Trump will go to jail. But Honig had to let Behar down, politely shaking his head with the conclusion “no”.
“He’s going to slide again? He’s going to slide again” was Behar’s response, filled with disappointment.
This episode of The View was yet another demonstration of how the media can misinform the public when looking to sensationalize the news. Despite Goldberg’s half-hearted admission that “we chuckle… but really this is really sad”, her and her co-hosts’ childish behavior overshadowed the serious and sensitive nature of the case.
Goldberg’s hastily-spun claim seemed to ignore the numerous ways in which America’s involvement in WWI and WWII still shape the world today, from the Marshall Plan which rebuilt Germany, as well as East Asia, to the United Nations’ ruling on free trade between nations.
The events of January 6th were certainly a national tragedy, and as much as Goldberg and Behar may wish for a quick-fix, a solution as complex as a criminal investigation is probably more appropriate. And it would be wise if they use their newfound notoriety to not spew misinformed facts, but instead help educate viewers on the facts versus the fiction.