The co-hosts of “The View” erupted on Thursday after conservative guest host Savannah Chrisley defended President Donald Trump against those who call him a racist, including co-host Sunny Hostin.
The co-hosts discussed Trump’s celebration of Black History Month at the White House.
“I think, you know, when it comes to the event that happened yesterday, what’s so hard for me to witness is people stating that the president is a racist, because I’ve seen him firsthand. He saved one of my best friends’ lives, a Black woman who has been with him for —,” Chrisley began.
“He is a racist,” Hostin interrupted, as Chrisley continued and repeated that Trump saved her Black friend’s life.
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“So, he has a Black friend. He’s a racist,” Hostin shot back.
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg also pushed back on Chrisley and explained why she felt differently.
“Here’s the problem, Savannah, and why we have a different take on it,” she said. “Many of us have a different take on it, because when you target DEI programs with executive office, from your — with executive orders your first week in office, arguing that the policies undermine national unity.”
“You know, when you shared racist posts about the Obamas, when you pursued the death penalty for the exonerated five after you knew they had been exonerated. These are the reasons that his behavior is so hard,” Goldberg added.
Hostin repeated her argument that Trump was indeed a “racist.”
“Let’s call a thing, a thing. Donald Trump is a racist. There is no question in my mind. It’s time to say the truth and tell it like it is, and the most recent thing that he did by posting on Truth Social, the Obamas depicted as apes in ‘The Lion King,’ where there are no apes in ‘The Lion King.’ It was a racist — he tried to blame a staffer,” Hostin said. “A staffer did not do it.”
Chrisley insisted that a staffer did do it, as the show played a clip of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying, “When you see it on Truth Social you know it’s directly from President Trump.”
“President Trump is a racist,” Hostin said again. Chrisley argued, “He’s not.”
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After further back-and-forth, Chrisley acknowledged that the White House had failed in handling the post.
“I agree wholeheartedly that the White House failed when it came to the posting of that video, because it is the White House’s responsibility to protect the minority groups that lost friendships and relationships over just standing for President Trump,” she said.
Goldberg ended the segment by noting that disagreement was acceptable and one of the show’s strengths.
Chrisley has co-hosted this week in place of Alyssa Farah Griffin, who is on maternity leave.
“Sunny Hostin is an extremely unlikeable, talentless hack with a poorly rated TV show who clearly suffers from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle told Fox News Digital in a statement.
“No President has done more for black Americans than President Trump has,” the spokesman added. “During his five years in office, President Trump signed criminal justice reform, prison reform, opportunity zones, long-term funding of historically black colleges, school choice funding, Trump Accounts, and the largest middle-class tax cuts in history.”
“President Trump was proud to receive historic support from the Black community in 2024, and he is working around the clock to deliver for them and make our country greater than ever before,” the statement added.
