Welp, The View has returned, and so have the arguments, which include if Trump supporters are “good people.”
As many fans expected, the addition of Alyssa Farrah Griffin has caused more intense and semi-cringy banter among The View panel, and Tuesday’s episode has cemented Griffin as the pot-stirrer the producers probably hired her to be by defending Republicans and her former boss Donald Trump against comments President Joe Biden made in last Wednesday’s speech to the nation.
Griffin said she "agreed with the substance" of Biden's speech, which hit on the un-Democratic ways Republicans have acted towards the American people and policies, not to mention the ongoing probe into Trump stealing classified documents,
Still, she tried to come to Trump voters’ aid by saying she took “a little bit of issue” with Biden “broadly applying the term ‘semi-fascist’ to Republicans.”
“…I think Donald Trump is [semi-fascist], I think the vast majority of his supporters are not,” she said, according to Decider. “I think they are good people who want an economy that works for them, who saw more money in their paycheck under Donald Trump, and my fear is this: I think Biden wants to be a uniter, but I don’t think that that was uniting.”
Sunny Hostin countered that "60 to 70 percent of Republicans believe that Donald Trump is the leader of their party." She also asked that if Griffin believes Trump is a fascist, "what are they?"
“If you are saying he is a white supremacist, what are they?” she asked. “If you are saying that he is a racist, what are they? Because if you follow someone that has hate in their heart–and I believe he does–then you are complicit in that and you don’t get a pass on it.”
Griffin said, "I'm the first to call out elected Republicans who stoke the fascist hate," but, "the average Americans, I think they're voting with their wallets…they had more money under Donald Trump. They're not paying attention to every crazy thing he says on TV because they're working around the clock."
Clearly, that’s a ridiculous opinion to have about the common voter. But this is what The View producers want, despite what the viewers actually want. With this first day under the panel’s belt, we’ll see what else this season will bring, especially as the political stakes get even higher as the midterms get closer.
