‘The View’: Whoopi Goldberg Says Trump Is Purposefully Punishing Americans With His Economic Policy

Amanda Bell May 1, 2025, 12:10 pm

Following Donald Trump‘s latest cabinet meeting, in which he admitted that Americans may experience hardships as a result of his economic policy and tariffs — he said, “Maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30… and maybe those two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more” — The View cohosts weighed in on his comments on Thursday’s (May 1) first “Hot Topic” discussion.

“Now, I want to remind people that he took credit for Biden’s economy — booming economy — claiming investors knew he was going to win,” Whoopi Goldberg said to start. “How long are people gonna put up with this? Because the economy was great when he came in.” She went on to say that he previously “said we’re gonna have billions and billions” but this is a change of tune. “Now you talk about no dolls on the shelf,” she said.

Sara Haines pointed out that Trump’s claim that the stock market slump is owned by Joe Biden is contrary to what certain members of his own party are saying. “Even Senator John Kennedy from Louisiana, a Republican, has said, ‘There is no question this is Trump’s economy.'” She also said that this “common enemy” messaging of “We’re not Biden” won’t work anymore. “That worked for a minute, but once he started doing these tariffs and started trade wars — indiscriminately to everyone, friend and foe — the numbers started dropping. The numbers we’re seeing in his polls are almost specific to this economical loss.”

“It’s like he’s Ebenezer Scrooge: ‘No dolls, but there will be MAGA hats in your stocking this year,'” Joy Behar joked.

'The View' Cohosts on Trump's Tariffs Turnaround: 'No Strategy'

Alyssa Farah Griffin weighed in to say, “Markets did rally when Donald Trump was reelected because I think investors thought he was going to manage this economy like the first term… [that he] was going to be a deregulation agenda, tax cuts, things that would inspire people to want to invest in America. But he threw that all out the window and lost all of those record stock gains in just a matter of 100 days. And his former vice president, my former boss, Mike Pence, has a very good op-ed in The Wall Street Journal published yesterday, basically saying, ‘The 47th president could learn a thing or two from the 45th president.'”

Griffin went on to suggest that a more effective approach to tariffs could’ve been done. “If you want to target some things in China, fine, but work with our European allies. Work with our Pacific allies. That’s how you actually box out China and strengthen America.”

Sunny Hostin pointed out, “He then inherited Biden’s economy. And I know we’re going to have the former president come in and talk about his legacy, but I want to mention that his economic legacy historic wage gains, investment in job growth — marred by inflation, of course, but numbers don’t lie. His economy was strong. Trump’s tariffs killed it. The nation’s GDP growth under Biden was impressive, rose at a solid 3.1% rate at the end of his term… He was the president to oversee monthly job gains for the entirety of his presidency… And get this part because Donald Trump is supposed to be a builder, right? ‘He’s the best builder ever. Well, the US added 16.6 million jobs during Biden’s presidency, more than during any four-year term of any previous president. That is what Donald Trump got. What we’ve got now, especially in his second quarter, stock Market demolished, 401ks demolished, the Department of Education, demolished, DOGE demolishing things, federal government jobs gone. What good has he done to the economy? What kind of a businessman is that?”

“A bad one,” Behar answered. “He’s like a nihilist.”

“I think he’s angry at the country because I think he feels that Americans didn’t support him,” Goldberg said. “He feels our allies didn’t support him, and now he’s getting even. Because there’s no other reason to do what he’s doing. It doesn’t make sense to me.”

The View, weekdays, 11 a.m. ET, ABC