The line-up looked quite a bit different on Tuesday’s (December 3) edition of The View. There were only two regularly scheduled cohosts at the table: Whoopi Goldberg and Sunny Hostin.
“If you’re wondering what’s going on, there’s nothing wrong with your television set. Joy [Behar] is not here. Sara [Haines] is not here, and Alyssa [Farah Griffin] is not here today,” Goldberg explained at the top of the show. (Ana Navarro is only obligated for Fridays and Mondays.)
To round out the panel, producers called upon a former regular star of the show — who’s had some biting words to say about it in the past — in Abby Huntsman and a former guest cohost in The Bachelorette star Rachel Lindsay.
Goldberg credited Huntsman for coming back on short notice, despite previously saying she felt “trapped” when she was a series regular and that it didn’t “reflect [her] values.” “This is the kinda gal she is,” Goldberg said as a means of introduction. Huntsman previously starred alongside Goldberg, Hostin, Behar, and Meghan McCain from 2018 to 2020.
Related‘The View’ Cohosts Overwhelmingly Support Joe Biden’s Pardon of Son Hunter — With One Exception
Huntsman then revealed that she got the call on Monday to come in an sub for the swath of absentees, saying, “I think I was in my sweat pants, cleaning up mac and cheese off the floor. Brian [Teta, executive producer]’s like, ‘We’re in a pinch.’ I’m like, ‘All right, well, if Whoopi’s there, yes, I’m here,’” she remembered before sheepishly adding acknowledgments for Hostin and Lindsay. “It’s kind of like deja vu,” she continued. “Trump’s president again… What’s changed since I was here last really?!”
Goldberg then introduced Lindsay, who explained, “You get the call, you drop. You have to come here to share the table with you ladies.”
Though it’d been a while since either of the guest cohosts were party to these panels, they wasted no time digging right in.
Returning to the subject of Joe Biden’s pardon of son Hunter Biden, Huntsman said, “People have made their choice about Trump. They know the good, they know the bad and the ugly. Last time I saw Biden was at this table, and it was when he was announcing he was running. And I can’t help but think about how different that moment was and how different that mood was. He said, ‘I’m going to bring this country together. I’m going to get Trump out of office. I’m going to be the palate cleanser that this country desperately needs [for the] soul of the nation.’ What breaks my heart is for a man that has served most of his life, he is going out in one of the worst ways. You are sandwiched between Trump years. You are now pardoning your son from criminal activity. You were ousted by your own party. This is not what he wants his legacy to be. You can’t be sitting there thinking, ‘This is how I’m going to be remembered.’”
To that, Lindsay countered, “I think the issue too is that we’re missing, once again, the forest for the trees. I think we’re focusing on the wrong thing. The thing is that we continue to put our faith in politicians, and every single time you do that, they will let you down. I think that what we need to be focusing on are the policies that we need to hold people, our politicians, accountable for that… We need to move on. We need to pick up the pieces from this election, and then I think we need to regroup and focus on the next four years. I don’t think we need to be worrying about the fact that he is pardoning Hunter Biden. I don’t think that that would have changed how the public views politicians at all. If he did decide to not pardon him, we would still feel the same way. We’ve lost trust in that, and that’s why we need to put our trust in our faith in policies.”
DEMOCRATIC DIVISION FROM HUNTER BIDEN PARDON: As Democratic Party backlash and divide grows against Pres. Biden for pardoning his son Hunter, #TheView co-hosts and guest co-hosts @HuntsmanAbby and @TheRachLindsay weigh in. pic.twitter.com/78iVashULo— The View (@TheView) December 3, 2024
The View, weekdays, 11 a.m. ET, ABC
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