‘The View’ Hosts React to Plague Return & ‘Ominous’ Election Message From Trump

The cohosts of The View had double trouble “Hot Topics” to deal with on Wednesday’s (October 7) live episode: the emergence of a new mystery pneumonic Plague in Russia and Donald Trump‘s cryptic statement that Project 2025 architect Russell Vought is preparing a “surprise” in the coming weeks leading up to the midterm elections.

Moderator Whoopi Goldberg started the segment on the plague by attempting to reassure audiences that there isn’t a verified “outbreak” of the illness, saying that she had confidence in American scientists, but cohost Sunny Hostin wasn’t so calm.

“I’m not super confident just because our HHS is headed by a man who has a brainworm and who admitted to snorting cocaine off of a toilet seat and also eats roadkill, so that’s disconcerting,” Hostin said. She then pointed to the U.S.’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization and the fact that the language being used by Russia to describe the disease echoes that which was shared by China regarding the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020.

Sara Haines then jumped in and said she was worried that “we didn’t learn the right lessons from Covid.” She then noted that since New York has declared a state of emergency over the outbreak of measles, she had additional reasons for concern: “So if we’re struggling to contain something we actually know, how I’m not as confident that we are prepared to handle something we don’t know,” she said.

Alyssa Farah Griffin criticized Russia for its response, saying that the FSB’s statement on the matter “sounds like more of a national security response than a public health response,” but she did remain hopeful that we have a “competent CDC.”

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Ana Navarro had a much grimmer outlook on the matter, saying, “I’m just so scarred, I guess, from the Covid experience that when I hear this, I just kind of want to put my hands to my ears, curl up in the fetal position, and say, ‘Wake me up when it’s over.’ This is why I think it’s so important that we have qualified people in government… I just don’t give a pass to Republican senators who voted to confirm RFK Jr. as secretary of health, knowing he wasn’t qualified, including people like Bill Cassidy, who’s a doctor himself, a senator, because things like this are going to come up. There’s going to be crises. There’s going to be health emergencies, and when I think of RFK Jr. heading HHS, I just say, ‘Girl, kiss your ass goodbye.'”

Goldberg refuted that take, though, saying that she thinks there’s still plenty of good people in public health positions to handle the potential crisis.

In the next segment, the cohosts reviewed footage of Trump saying in a campaign speech, “Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought, who’s fantastic. He’s done a great job. We have some big surprises coming up in another few weeks, right, Russ? He’s going to be one of the very important people in the history of our country, in my opinion. He’s got some great things happening.”

After that, Griffin said simply, “That was ominous.”

But once again, Goldberg took a more nonreactive stance, saying, “Well, it’s meant to be ominous. It’s meant for us to go, ‘Oh my God, what’s happening?'” 

Griffin somewhat agreed, noting that elections are administered by state and local governments and adding, “I’m expecting Democrats to do very well [in the midterms]. They only need to pick up three seats to take back the House. I think that’s a foregone conclusion. I think in January they’ll be swearing in Speaker Hakeem Jeffries. The Senate’s going to be tighter. They need to win four seats, but there’s many pathways to get there. The fact that Texas and Iowa are in play, for Kansas candidates to be in play, that bodes well for Democrats.”

She also blamed the Republican party for the predicament it’s in with current polling numbers, saying, “We’ve had two years to show what we’re for and to show people we’re delivering for them, and we failed. That’s just what I hear when I talk to my friends who have supported this president, who vote for him multiple times, is the cost of living did not come down. It feels more chaotic. People feel less in control.”

Navarro then weighed in to say, “I feel like we say this a lot, but I really feel it this time. I do think that this is the most important election of my lifetime, and the reason I say that is because for the last two years we have seen horrible abuses of power, corruption, cruelty by the Trump administration. Think about the things going on with immigration. Think about this war with no plan that we are stuck in. Think about all the things that have happened: the price of gas, the price of diesel, the price of meat, and it’s only going to get worse in the next two years if rubber-stamping Republicans continue to control Congress. So, to me, this is an incredibly important election, and for years now, years, Donald Trump has been trying to deflate our trust in the institution of democracy and the institution of elections. Do not buy that. Do not take the bait. People need to believe in our democracy, and they need to go out and vote.”

Haines then offered, “Donald Trump is trying to be ominous because his supporters get excited and his opponents get scared, and he’s trying to distract from what he can’t deliver right now and is not delivering.” She also said the fact that he’s asking voters to consider it as though he’s on the ballot “is not going to end well for him.”

Goldberg agreed, concluding the segments with, “Look, he’s tried to intimidate people. He’s tried to buy people. It’s a little too late because people have been living with you for two years.” After Hostin interjected to say, “We don’t like it,” Goldberg agreed. “And no, we don’t like it. But now, nobody is liking it. And that’s what we needed because it’s not just one group that has to bear this burden.”

The View, weekdays, 11a/10c, ABC