Joy Behar Did NOT In Fact Say Trump Country Rail Disaster Victims ‘Had It Coming’ Or Any Other ‘Evil Thing’

Tommy ChristopherFeb 24th, 2023, 8:41 am
 

Conservative cranks piled on The View‘s Joy Behar for a comment that was horrifically mischaracterized as a gleeful taunt at the Trump-supporting residents of East Palestine, who “got what they deserved.”

On Thursday’s edition of ABC’s The View, Behar made remarks that resulted in a pile-on from right-wing media personalities and others who claimed she said something she clearly did not say.

The poop-flinging appears to have started in the section of the right-wing zoo that houses conservative whine cellar Newsbusters, whose Nicholas Fondacaro tweeted a clip from the show along with the claim, “Joy Behar says the residents of East Palestine got what they deserved because they voted for Trump.”

A whole bunch of right-wingers bit down hard on the falsehood, as did a few more moderate and ordinarily sensible people. You can decide for yourself who’s who.

One of the pilers-on was former View host Meghan McCain, who called the mischaracterized remarks “an evil thing to say.”

What Behar actually said, as I patiently explained to Charlie Kirk (who may not have actually watched the clip because he was one of the few to use quotation remarks on the fabricated notion of what Behar said), was that she can’t believe they voted for him, and that next time they should pay attention to his record and not be taken in by optics.

I further explained that this disaster has demonstrated that the people in that district voted against their own interests. Trump campaigned on doing exactly that sort of thing. It’s a pedestrian observation that just happens to be particularly acute in this case.

And for the record, the fact pattern that Behar pointed out has even appeared to start changing the minds of the tree-hugging libturds over at… Fox & Friends, who now say regulations like the one Trump killed would actually be a good idea. I don’t say that as a slam; it’s good when people digest new information and change their minds, as long as it sticks.

Another person who digested new information was former GOP Congressman Joe Walsh — a formerly rabid Tea Party conservative who has made one of the more convincing conversions away from reactionary Republican politics since Trump’s rise — who saw my conversation with Kirk on Twitter and was moved to apologize.

“I apologize to @JoyVBehar. I read the headline, quickly read the article & accused Joy Behar of saying a shitty thing,” Walsh said in a quote-tweet.

What actually happened was Behar brought up the issue of regulation.

“Let’s talk about regulations for a second. Because it seems to me that the Republicans are obsessed with the notion of the free market. And they don’t like a lot of regulations,” she said, adding, “For example, there were very few plane crashes, thank God. And that’s because the industry is highly regulated. We have to pay for regulation and safety standards.”

Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin swooped in to try and slam President Joe Biden, and she was the one who brought up the political makeup of the district, calling it “Trump country.”

“I don’t know why they would ever vote for him. For somebody who – By the way, he placed someone with deep ties to the chemical industry in charge of the EPA’s chemical safety office. That’s who you voted for, in that district. Donald Trump, who reduces all safety. He did, in those days,” Behar said.

When her co-hosts said Trump’s visit to a McDonalds “resonated with those voters,” Behar retorted, “They need to look past the photo-ops these people.”

Sunny Hostin chimed in, “I think this is Donald Trump’s fault!”

“It’s his fault, and then he shows up!” Behar said.

Clearly, Behar was slamming Trump, not the residents of East Palestine — whom she compassionately urged not to be taken in by “photo ops” that belie the true effects of his politics.

Watch above via ABC’s The View.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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