Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar Diverge Over Biden's Focus on Trump

Fans of The View were in for a surprise Wednesday morning when Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar found themselves on opposite sides of a discussion about President Joe Biden, who called out Virginia gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin's ties to Trump in a rally for his Democratic challenger, Terry McAuliffe, last night. While Behar argued that "Biden has to remind people every single time he's on stage" of the damage Trump did in office, Goldberg said that the president should focus on his own agenda. "Biden needs to remind everybody what he's doing," said the longtime moderator. "That's what I want to know: what are you doing?"

After The View played a clip from McAuliffe's Tuesday night rally — "He's willing to pledge his loyalty to Trump in private, why not in public?" a fired-up Biden said of Youngkin — Behar was the first to weigh in. "He should bring Trump up as much as possible," said Behar. "People don't remember anything. I think I have a bad memory; the country has a bad memory!"

She went on to list a variety of Trump's biggest missteps, including the January 6 insurrection, his poor COVID response, and his remark about the "very fine people" at the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. "People have to remember — and Biden has to remind people," said Behar.

"I don't think he does," Goldberg immediately replied. Instead, she argued, Biden must remind Americans what he's doing for them in the present, rather than focus on the past. "We don't see you, but I know you're out there," she said. "You're trying to make sure you find out how to beat this COVID down to the ground. You're trying to make sure people get some money. You're trying to make sure kids get what they need. You're to make sure you're taking care of the border. I mean, there's so many things."

BIDEN UNLOADS ON TRUMP AT VIRGINIA RALLY: With the gubernatorial race between Terry McAuliffe and Glenn Youngkin extremely close, Pres. Biden came out to support McAuliffe and called out Youngkin’s ties to former Pres. Trump – the co-hosts weigh in. https://t.co/VGynrmeaF9 pic.twitter.com/Kp5OlbAx0k

— The View (@TheView) October 27, 2021

"What I think happens is people get caught up in what was, and we know what was because we're living in it," continued Goldberg. "We're living the great darkness."

Guest co-host Ana Navarro then stepped in to agree with Goldberg. "There's so many things on the presidential agenda," she said. "If he does his job well, there will be time to campaign and remind people of what a horror Trump was."

However, in a true 50-50 split, Sunny Hostin sided with Behar and repeated her favorite line: "Past will become prologue if you forget," she said. "People are not remembering. In fact, we've had guests that come on and say, 'You know what, January 6 happened, but we've got to move on.' We've had that happen, okay? People want to move on, and we can't let that happen."

After some back and forth that saw both sides dig into their positions, Goldberg managed to get the final word in. "I want to see him get stuff done so that when he comes up and says, 'You may think you were happier before, but here's what you got now,'" she said. "That's what I want."

Elsewhere on The View... Guest Drew Barrymore weighed in on the co-hosts' "would you want to live to 150" debate. No surprises here: Barrymore said that she would "absolutely" love to be 150 years old, even if, as Behar asked, her brain is only "half there." Said the talk show host, "Sure! I'll take half a brain and 50 more years any day."

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.