“The View” co-hosts reacted to former President Donald Trump Monday after he called U.S. leaders “dumb” at the Conservative Political Action Conference Saturday in regards to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“You ever hear the pot calling the kettle black?” co-host Whoopi Goldberg said. “Will his Putin praise cause a splinter in the GOP?”
Co-host Sunny Hostin said she is “shocked” at Republicans and Fox News calling Putin a “genius” and “savvy.”
“What kind of genius invades a peaceful neighboring country and then tanks his entire economy of his country?” Hostin said. “Is that a smart thing?” (RELATED: ‘Wrong About Vladimir Putin All Along’: Joe Scarborough Rips Republicans For Praising, ‘Backtracking’ On Russia)
Co-host Ana Navarro credited Republican Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah, Marco Rubio of Florida and Rob Portman of Ohio for “condemning” the praise of Russia and Putin. She then brought up the fact that Trump called Putin’s recognition of two separatist-controlled regions of Ukraine “great” and “wonderful” during a Tuesday interview with “The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show.”
“Any Republican who calls themselves a ‘freedom fighter’ must stand on the side of Ukraine,” Navarro said.
Co-host Joy Behar accused Trump of being dumb, claiming that he is in no position to distinguish who is and is not smart.
“It’s very rich that he thinks anybody’s is smart. How smart is he?” Behar began. “Can he even spell CPAC, that’s what I want to know. I mean, I don’t think that he’s any kind of person to talk about who’s smart and who’s not smart. His vocabulary for, one thing, is extremely limited. He knows about 10 words.”
Co-host Sara Haines then criticized the former president for standing against his own country over Russia. She said he does not “fully grasp” that Putin benefits from the division within the U.S. and therefore the country has to “stand together.”
“To poop on your own country is not a smart thing to do,” Goldberg continued. “When people wake up and they realize what you’re doing and what you’re saying, what it means to their country, you know, they’re not going to put up with that. They don’t like it.”
“I was reading an article that a lot of it is about white supremacy; a lot of this support for Putin and Russia is about white supremacy,” Behar said.
The co-hosts previously took shots at Trump and Fox News host and Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson over their remarks on Putin. Goldberg claimed Republicans want to “bond” with Russia due to their Christian values and their mistreatment of LGBT and minority communities.