‘The View’ Cohosts on Why Trump Is ‘Jealous’ of Obama: ‘Very High School’

Amanda Bell July 23, 2025, 11:37 am

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Sunny Hostin, Donald Turmp, and Joy Behar on The View — ABC

For the first “Hot Topic” of Wednesday’s (July 23) edition of The View, the cohosts dug into the latest Donald Trump scandal. The latest story? When asked if he supports the Justice Department’s move to potentially interview Ghislaine Maxwell, accomplice to convicted child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, amid the continued backlash over the DOJ’s handling of the Epstein files, Trump changed the subject. Instead, he encouraged reporters to focus on former President Barack Obama, whom he accused of “sedacious” (likely meaning “seditious”) actions around the 2016 presidential election.

After reviewing footage of Trump’s comments, along with reading out Obama’s rare statement condemning the allegations, the cohosts dug into the meat of the matter.

“A sitting president just accused a former president of treason. Now, do people realize how serious an allegation this is?” Whoopi Goldberg asked, to start. “And for me, didn’t the Supreme Court under the guise of this president, say that presidents have immunity?”

“Who tried to overthrow the government on January 6?” Joy Behar then quipped. “He’s so jealous of Obama because Obama is everything that he is not: trim, smart, handsome, happily married, can sing ‘Let’s Get Together’ better than Al Green… and Trump cannot stand it. It’s driving him crazy. Green is not a good color [on him].”

'The View': Whoopi Goldberg Reveals Trump's 'Biggest Mistake' in Trying to Distract From Epstein

Sunny Hostin vehemently agreed with Behar’s assessment, saying, “I agree. It’s like Obama still lives rent-free in his head. I think Michelle Obama still lives rent-free in his head. I think the fact that Malia graduated from Harvard still lives rent-free in his head, and it’s just the very swag that Obama has that he will never have.” She then pointed to a viral “Obama appreciation” clip showing the former president’s signature gait in action. “He will never be cool, and that’s just what this is about. Very high school.”

Alyssa Farah Griffin posited that the Obama accusation by Trump is “actually about distracting from Jeffrey Epstein” and noted that even if Maxwell does testify to the DOJ, she wouldn’t trust her word. “Her only incentive and motivation would be to lighten her own sentence.” However, she also said she was bothered by Trump’s accusations against Obama because, having worked in Trump’s first administration, she saw the intelligence about Russia’s election interference efforts firsthand. “I actually was with Mike Pence when he confronted Vladimir Putin in Singapore and said, ‘We know what you tried to do in our elections, do not do it again.’ It was the consensus of people in the first term, including the previous director of national intelligence, that Russia did try to meddle in our elections.”

“Everyone knows President Obama did nothing,” Sara Haines added. “In that quote, it says, ‘We don’t normally address this.’ I’m glad you felt the need he really didn’t, because no one believes him. He’s like a toddler that gets cornered.”

However, Griffin disagreed in part with Haines, saying, “I would be careful, though, because I actually think we live in such a polarized environment that if you have enough people amplifying it and saying this, there are going to be people who believe it, and that adds to this really, really dangerous split that we have in the country, where people believe like their own facts.”

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