At least one cohost of The View is feeling confident that the most controversial candidate for Donald Trump’s cabinet will be refused confirmation.
On Tuesday’s (November 19) episode, the first “hot topic” of discussion was the continued fallout over Matt Gaetz’s nomination for Trump’s attorney general. As the House ethics committee meets to discuss whether to release an investigative report that may accuse him of sexual misconduct with a minor, Alyssa Farah Griffin said she feels strongly that the Senate will decline to confirm him to head up the Department of Justice as a result of the scandals.
“If there is one person they’re going to block, I would guess it’d be Matt Gaetz,” Griffin explained. “I think the way they’ll do it is they’ll say, ‘Let’s not make this your problem, Donald Trump. I’m just going to say the votes aren’t there, put someone else up who can get through.’” She then predicted that Trump’s criminal defense attorney, Todd Blanche, will be that next selection, justifying, “Whatever you think of him appointing his criminal defense attorney, he has the qualifications to be there. He’s a former federal prosecutor. He worked for the Southern District of New York, but Matt Gaetz is a person of low moral character. This is widely known about him, and I’m kind of bullish he’s not going to get through.”
Joy Behar, on the other hand, predicted, “I think they’ll bow to the pressure” and argued that Gaetz’s nomination is meant to be a lightning rod (or, in her analogy, a pit bull) to distract from other potentially controversial nominations.
Sara Haines was halfway optimistic about the matter, saying, “I still think it’s about a 50/50 chance that he actually gets confirmed, and not because I have some strong belief that the Senate is going to put pressure to oppose him but because Matt Gaetz is universally despised.”
Sunny Hostin was simply befuddled that he’s even in contention, arguing, “Within the Justice Department, you have the sex crimes unit, which is what I was a part of… How could you nominate someone with allegations of child trafficking?” She went on to say that she is “deeply disturbed by the lack of judgment that we are already seeing from the president-elect. I’m not surprised, but I think a lot of people said things like, ‘He’s just kidding. He would never do this.’ Well, this is the best joke.”
For Whoopi Goldberg, the shame of the nomination is that some victims of sexual misconduct may not be able to trust their attorney general. “This is someone who will just say, ‘It’s not a big deal.’ All those little kids who get abused, they’ve got no recourse now because this is what’s in charge.”
Behar also wondered why it is that Trump’s nominees all seem to be television personalities, to which Goldberg guessed, “It’s a TV cabinet. Maybe he’s doing it to make sure they look good on screen.”
The View, weekdays, 11 a.m. ET, ABC
