'The View' hosts squabble over Democrat infighting, whether Schumer pointlessly 'caved' to GOP
Co-hosts of "The View" bickered over whether Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., made the right move by working with Republicans to avoid a government shutdown.
Schumer has been denounced by members of his own party as well as liberal media personalities after he voted with Republicans to pass a continuing resolution and avert a shutdown last week, arguing that a government closure would have been a "gift" to President Donald Trump.
Since then, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., one of his longtime allies, criticized him during a press conference in San Francisco, saying, "I myself don’t give away anything for nothing. I think that’s what happened the other day."
"The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg shared the clip with her co-hosts and asked if they agreed.
DEMOCRATS LASH OUT AT SCHUMER FOR ‘BETRAYAL’ OF SIDING WITH TRUMP
"Well, she backed that bus up over him," co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said. "I’m kind of stunned by how much Dems are infighting over this, I mean, it was striking to me when [House Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries basically declined to say that Chuck Schumer should be the leader and now Nancy Pelosi, who worked hand-in-glove with Schumer when she was speaker, now openly criticizing him. But listen, I maintain I agreed with him. I don’t think government shutdowns… I think they’re bad for the American public and did the prudent thing, but honestly I think he should consider stepping aside purely because his messaging is respectfully disastrous."
She cited Schumer's recent appearance on "The View," where he appeared to criticize Americans for wanting lower taxes.
"Most Americans feel like they’re paying too much in taxes, and they want to keep more of their hard-earned money. That’s evidenced by the fact a lot are fleeing blue states to be in red states," Griffin said.
She also mocked him for messaging that Democrats are "united in going after Trump," arguing that message lost in the 2024 election.
Co-host Joy Behar expressed her frustration with infighting in the Democratic Party, urging them to stop.
"No, no, no, the fact that Nancy is criticizing Schumer, stop it already!" Behar said.
"He should have been fighting for the people of America that are feeling the way that they are feeling," co-host Sunny Hostin responded. "The Americans that I’ve spoken to, people that approach me almost every single day say they don’t feel like the party is fighting for them."
Hostin said Schumer "had the opportunity to fight for them. Chuck Schumer caved to the GOP and got nothing."
"Alright, let’s not beat a dead body," Behar said. "The body is dead."
Co-host Sara Haines defended Schumer’s decision as the practical option.
"It would have been worse if he didn’t concede. It would have been worse and that’s what was surprised about Pelosi saying that, because she knows from her experience as Speaker of the House that the negotiator told Chuck Schumer he did not have the votes," Haines said.
"One thing that changed my mind is yesterday I called him on the carpet and said, ‘How are you leadership when you only get nine Democrats to follow you?’ And then someone shared something that made me change a little of my perspective," Haines said. "They had exactly the number they needed to not shut down, so he gave cover to a ton of Democrats that probably in commonsense terms knew their voters would backlash if they shut the government down and honestly—"
"He gave coverage to the GOP to do whatever the heck they want to do!" Hostin interjected.
"It’s a minority. They don’t have the math. It’s just basic math!" Haines argued. "There are facts there. It’s not an opinion. They cannot avoid this and if they bent the knee and pushed back just to show the public they were fighting, we would have ended up worse off. They would have gutted it even more."
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Haines noted there are numerous court cases related to DOGE and Elon Musk hanging in the balance, arguing she believes in the judicial system, and that a shutdown ultimately would have been the worst case scenario.
"When you cave, and you say, ‘well, they’re not listening to the rules anyway,’ well, you’re giving them a shutdown, which legally allows them to do exactly what they’re doing right now," Haines said.
"No one is fighting for the American people, and it’s feckless, and it’s weak," Hostin insisted.
Griffin replied, "Shutting down the government is not fighting for the American people."