OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The co-hosts of “The View” clashed mightily on Friday over a discussion about whether America is an inherently racist country.
Sunny Hostin, who is black, went back and forth with former Trump administration official Alyssa Farah Griffin, who is of Arab descent, over the question after the former claimed that a “significant portion” of the country demonstrates racist tendencies, Fox News reported.
The co-hosts of the show discussed GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s recent appearance on Charlamagne Tha God’s “The Breakfast Club” program. During her interview, Haley asserted that division in the country began during the Obama administration and expressed her belief that America is not a racist nation, although she acknowledged the existence of racism within the United States.
Farah Griffin expressed her belief that the vast majority of Americans are not racist but acknowledged the presence of racism within the United States.
“Well, we don’t know that,” co-host Joy Behar disagreed, while Hostin argued that FBI Director Christopher Wray has claimed that white supremacy was “the biggest threat to our country today.”
“That still doesn’t mean that’s the vast majority of people. I just don’t believe in my day-to-day life that the people you’re encountering harbor racist viewpoints,” Farah Griffin continued.
Hostin then claimed, “If you looked like me, you would believe differently.”
Griffin posed the question to her co-hosts, inquiring whether they believed that the majority of Americans were racist. She then added, “Help me understand.”
“I think that there is a significant portion that are racist and you can’t dismiss my lived experience,” Hostin responded, as the audience applauded.
Griffin quickly said, “I never would.”
“When I say there are a lot of racists in this country, I just experienced my son walking down the beach being called the n-word several times in Florida,” Hostin continued. “So you can’t say, ‘I believe that the vast majority of people aren’t racist,’ we don’t know that.”
Griffin concurred with the sentiment and reiterated that she would never minimize Hostin’s experiences. Co-host Sara Haines redirected the conversation towards Haley, expressing her view that the GOP presidential candidate was engaging in typical political behavior, including pandering, double-talk, and flip-flopping.
“And anyone that believes there’s some iconic D.C. politician that doesn’t play the same game every time an election rolls around, they’re being intellectually dishonest,” Haines added. “Republicans right now are dealing with a fractured party. They are walking a line that really has them against the wall in some ways. She’s doing what she has to do, and I’m right now currently of the anyone but Trump presidency club.”
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Hostin pushed back, however, asking, “But where is her moral compass?”
“Where are the moral compasses’ in D.C., Sunny? That’s naive,” Haines fired back.
During her interview with The Breakfast Club, Charlamagne pressed Haley on previous remarks on slavery.
“When he asked that question, I made the mistake of thinking he was trying to ask something else,” Haley said of an audience member who had asked her what she thought the primary cause of the Civil War had been. “I could tell that he was not a fan. Slavery should have been the first thing that came out of my mouth. Growing up in South Carolina, we all knew that the Civil War was about slavery.”
The 2024 GOP primary news for Haley continues to get worse the longer she stays in the race.
According to a recent nationwide survey of 1,297 potential Republican primary voters conducted by Morning Consult last week, former President Donald Trump is favored by 81 percent of respondents, while his one-time UN ambassador, Haley, receives support from only 18 percent of voters.
This significant gap represents a deficit of 63 points and seems insurmountable at this point.
