‘The View’ Cohosts Say Elon Musk’s Federal Takeover Should Leave Americans ‘Enraged’
As the richest man in the world is being given apparent carte blanche to infiltrate the information systems of federal agencies in the United States government, the cohosts of The View are sounding the alarm bells for audiences to pay attention and act.
On Tuesday’s (February 4) episode, Whoopi Goldberg, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin, and Alyssa Farah Griffin were on the panel (with Joy Behar absent for reasons undisclosed) to discuss the threat Elon Musk and his team of DOGE (the nebulous Department of Government Effenciency, as authorized by Donald Trump) pose to everyday citizens.
“The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has full access to the U.S. Treasury’s federal payment system, and Democrats are ringing the alarm bell,” Goldberg said before rolling clips of several high-profile Democrats calling the Trump’s “the most corrupt administration in our history” and saying it’s putting “communities in serious jeopardy.” She then introduced a clip of Trump downplaying Musk’s access and insisting he can act “only if we agree with him.”
Goldberg then posed the question, “Are Americans going to be okay with Musk…” and the in-person audience immediately responded with a chorus of “No.”
After that, Haines jumped in to note that six of the men on Musk’s team are under 25 years old and noted, “Who are these people and why do they have access to any of your business? Well, they don’t. What they’re doing is actually illegal.” She then cited The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 and said, “So it’s beyond Elon Musk. Donald Trump doesn’t have the power to do what he’s doing right now.” However, she also admitted that public outrage hasn’t met the moment because “Donald Trump floods the zone,” adding, “This is the thing people should keep their eye on because this flies in the face of our Constitution, and that’s where people should be enraged.”
Hostin then stepped in to offer a brief clinic on the separation of powers in the United States, explaining that it’s Congress who has the “power of the purse.” She then hypothesized that by allowing all of this, Trump is attempting to expand the power of his office.
“What even is the purpose of being in Congress, if things that you vote for, that you work on, could be just completely thrown out the window by the president?” Griffin then asked. She went on to explain that, as a fellow Republican, she is supportive of “cutting waste, fraud, and abuse” in government, but she’s miffed by the lack of clarity. “They need to say. Are we doing away with USAID? Are we moving it under the State Department? Are we doing away with the Department of Education? That’s something that is in the press right now that might be next on the chopping block.”
After turning their ire to the hiring of Darren Beattie, a man who has repeatedly said the U.S. needs “competent white men” to be in charge, to the State Department, Goldberg closed out the segment with a call to action for the crowd.
“When I was a little girl, that’s kind of what Washington looked like. Those are the folks that were in at one point,” she said. “What is going to be new is, if we stop paying attention, that’s going to be new. Because the thing that got Americans moving was they didn’t like that system. That system didn’t work. So we’ve worked and tried and tried to get women where they needed to be, people of color, where they needed to be, freedoms for gay people. We fought for all of that because that was the country we’re trying to get into. So see everything we’re talking about, hear us, and then you make a decision where you stand on all of this because it’s really up to each individual person whether they’re going to participate or not.”
The View, weekdays, 11 a.m. ET, ABC
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J
makes me sick america has pissed on the graves of 428 thousand soldiers killed by facism only to embrace a full cabinet of facists on the potus,s staff.they can all eat shit and die.
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G
Ohhh I LOVE seeing all you democrats squirming… karma is REAL!! Go dye your hair a deeper shade of purple and cuddle with your cats a little more and cry yourself to sleep hahaha
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G
Facist
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P
I see why people are watching something other than The View. They are as usual not talking about what is important. They are just trying to manipulate people into believing that a problem is surfacing. We must remember who won the popular vote. People are ready for a change. Maybe the network needs a change also. I know I changed channels a long time ago.
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G
If you voted for Trump then you have the responsibility as an American citizen to not look the other way as he destroys our country. Be informed and watch the news from many sources.
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P
Why would people be enraged when this is what they stupidly voted for? And what will keeping our eye on it do when Trump has already proven that the entire Republican party and SCOTUS will cave to whatever he wants?
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G
I know. It's very disturbing to watch half the country go along with the brainwashing. The US is being taken over by a group of narcissistic, greedy, sadistic, power hungry, people who all have oppositional defiance disorder.
How do we prevail?
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G
Speaking like this makes you sound ignorant.
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G
Your comments are revelatory of your ignorance.
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G
By voting Republican
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