‘The View’: Joy Behar Details Why Trump’s Epstein Reaction Is ‘Dumb’

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Donald Trump‘s continued struggles to quash the conversations about Jeffrey Epstein and his administration’s handling of the so-called “Epstein Files” was once again the first “Hot Topic” of the day on Thursday’s (July 17) edition of The View.

This time, the cohosts reacted to Trump’s most recent claim that the Epstein case is a “hoax … perpetrated by the Democrats and some stupid Republicans,” along with the firing of Maureen Comey, the daughter of James Comey and prosecutor in the cases against Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in their child sex trafficking ring.

“So suddenly, now, this is our fault?” Whoopi Goldberg asked, incredulously. “This is the Democrats’ fault? It’s very, very freaky, but a lot of his supporters are still convinced there is a cover-up happening. How are they going to feel about being called dumb?”

“I don’t think they like it,” Joy Behar said in response. She then offered a theory that this is a moment some key Trump supporters have been waiting for, explaining, “There’s a real schism going on in the party right now. And what’s interesting is that Elon Musk won’t stop posting about it. Mike Pence came out of hiding to talk about it. He said, ‘The time has come to release the files.’ Nikki Haley is out slamming the secrecy around Epstein, and now his base is starting to get mad. I think that these people like Pence and Musk and the rest of them and the Republicans in the Congress, they have secretly thought that what he’s been doing is very destructive. I think they believe that, but they’re too scared to say it. They’re afraid to lose their jobs. They’re intimidated by Donald Trump, and he can be vicious. He’ll primary them. They’re scared for their families…. and now they see this opportunity to get him, and they are seizing it.”

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Sara Haines then pointed out that the conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein — particularly when it comes to the so-called “files” containing a list of his high-profile clients — weren’t perpetrated by the left. “The Democrats were never the ones talking about this,” she said. “This has been an age-old Republican — especially MAGA — talking point that goes to QAnon. This is something they’ve been talking about for so long.” She also pointed to an article about an attorney for some of Epstein’s victims who points to some of the biggest mysteries that still surround the Epstein case, saying, “There’s stuff going on that could reveal he was an asset, whether domestically or abroad. It’s something that needs to still be revealed.”

Alyssa Farah Griffin said that Trump’s reactions to the swelling call for transparency with the Epstein files have only stoked the curiosity further. “If Trump is trying to convince people there’s no there, there, there’s nothing to see there, he’s doing literally the exact opposite of what you would do. Firing the prosecutor who tried Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, that’s going to open the door to 1000 more questions. Claiming it’s all a hoax by Democrats, despite the fact that Epstein was tried and died during his first term, not when Joe Biden was in office, and then attacking his own supporters while they’re already unhappy….”

“Why do you think he’s doing that?” Behar inquired in interruption.

Griffin then said that while she was never a big believer of any conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein, Trump’s reactions have changed that. “If I’m being honest, I have questions about whose names may appear in these documents, what might exist, what the DOJ has because they are protesting too much on something that there is so much public interest.”

“That’s not my question,” Behar then said. “My question is, why is Donald Trump being so dumb?”

Amid laughter from the audience and other cohosts and some additional crosstalk, Behar clarified the “dumb” actions were “attacking his own base and keeping this theory alive.”

Griffin then went on to theorize that the media landscape surrounding Trump has changed. “Donald Trump, in his first term and actually much of this term, has benefited from the fact that Fox News is basically an arm of the Republican Party. He can call up Fox News’ primetime host, and they’re going to say, ‘Never mind. We’re not talking about this anymore.’ But something he wasn’t banking on that’s new this term is this ecosystem of podcasters who helped put him into office, who have tens of millions of listeners — Joe Rogan, Theo Von — who are not beholden to him. They truly aren’t, and they are not going to let this go if Donald Trump calls him up and says, ‘Joe Rogan, stop talking about this.’ Joe Rogan does not care at all. He’s going to talk about it more.”

“Yeah, I don’t think he knows how to handle it,” Sunny Hostin agreed. However, she wanted to point audiences to a “macro-level” perspective on the matter, particularly with the firing of Comey. After detailing her credentials as “one of the best of the best” and noting that career prosecutors are generally shielded from political terminations, Hostin noted, “I think a lot of people should take a look at this [piece] that Stacey Abrams wrote… about how tyranny takes hold, and there are 10 steps to autocracy, and one of those steps is to harass opposition parties, to harass the civil sector, and especially to harass the legal industry, and to take out your political opponents.. We stopped talking about Project 2025 a long time ago; this is part of Project 2025. This is part of the plan. So let’s remember that these things that seem to be a distraction, that he seems to be doing this, and he seems to be doing that. He seems to do that this is all part of a plan towards a step towards authoritarianism, toward the dictatorship.”

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