“The View” co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin defended Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley as her fellow co-hosts smeared her during Tuesday’s panel.
Haley announced her presidential bid in a three-minute video Tuesday morning, in which she called for a “new generation of leadership” and emphasized the need for “fiscal responsibility,” secure borders, and countering the “socialist left.” The co-hosts accused Haley of being silent on issues facing the U.S. and denial of the 2020 presidential election results until her announcement.
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg lashed out at Haley for criticizing liberals for labeling America’s “founding principles” as “racist” and “evil.”
“So Nikki, since you’ve been asleep all this time and you just woke up, you’re just finding out that there are things about our country that are not perfect,” Goldberg said. “And for us to pretend that it is and that nothing happened, is ridiculous. So you’re not saying anything new, and you of all people should know better because you used to actually have some sanity and knew right from wrong and then you lost your mind when someone new directs it. So don’t do that.”
Haley hit back at Goldberg in a Tuesday tweet, alluding that she does not want Haley to run for president as a conservative because of her Indian heritage.
Here we go again with Whoopi. The thought of me running for President makes the liberals’ heads explode. I wonder why?” Haley said, with the hashtag, “#AmericaIsNotARacistCountry.”
Here we go again with Whoopi. The thought of me running for President makes the liberals’ heads explode. I wonder why? 😉 #AmericaIsNotARacistCountry pic.twitter.com/b9h9hcJ9CM
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) February 14, 2023
Co-host Joy Behar accused Haley of being “part of the invasion of the bodysnatchers” related to the alleged “right-wing” craziness. She falsely said the candidate promoted former President Donald Trump’s election fraud claims in the 2020 election and criticized her for being a supporter of the former president. (RELATED: Nikki Haley Hits Back At Sunny Hostin Accusing Her Of Hiding Her Ethnicity)
“She’s an election denier too, isn’t she? Isn’t she?” Behar asked. “She flip-flopped on that. But she also backed Herschel Walker, one of the worst candidates we ever had. Second only to George Santos, maybe.”
“That was terrifying actually, that she did that,” co-host Sunny Hostin said.
Hostin called her a “political grifter” and “chameleon” after she signed legislation removing the Confederate Flag from the South Carolina governor’s mansion after the Charlottesville riots in 2017, when white supremacists clashed with protestors over the removal of a statue.
Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin then came to Haley’s defense, celebrating that she is challenging Trump for the Republican nomination. She further praised her for the “unifying” message in her campaign video and for her skills in combating dictators during her service in the United Nations.
“Can you guys let me be excited for one day? This is the first time in seven years a Republican is running against Trump. She’s not perfect, but she is damn well better than him, and I’d argue she’s better than the two frontrunners, [Republican Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis and Trump,” Griffin said.
She made her co-hosts laugh when she called Haley the “smartest in the room.” Behar then complained that Haley called President Joe Biden’s record “abysmal” in her presidential announcement.
Haley said, “Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections. That has to change. Joe Biden’s record is abysmal, but that shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Washington establishment has failed us over and over and over again.”
Haley’s announcement disputed her previous claims that she would not launch a presidential campaign against Trump, who announced his third presidential bid in November. She vowed in a Fox News interview to be the new leader needed in the U.S. and said a “new generational change” is necessary.
Hostin accused Haley in a September segment of “The View” of identifying by her nickname in order to hide her Indian ethnicity. The candidate was born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa to Indian immigrants, and has gone by her legal middle name since birth. Nikki, meaning “little one,” is a common name in Punjab, the region of India her parents emigrated from, Haley explained in a 2021 tweet.