The political activist group Turning Point USA took action against left-wing gossip show The View after the talk show insinuated a link between neo-Nazis and Turning Point USA’s recent Student Action Summit. TPUSA sent a cease-and-desist letter to ABC News and demanded that The View retract its “defamatory statements.” The show offered an apology as a result. Yet I believe The View should have done more than merely offer an apology.
“The false statements of fact intentionally made during The View’’ July 25th segment were unquestionably harmful to TPUSA’s reputation and brought the organization and its student affiliates into disrepute with the public, potential donors, and current and future business partners, posing a significant financial loss to the organization,” TPUSA’s letter stated.
But consider the viciousness of the show’s slanderous comments against TPUSA. Left-wing blowhard Joy Behar insinuated the group was linked to neo-Nazis who showed up at the event when there was no connection.
“Neo-Nazis were out there in front of the conference with antisemitic slurs and, you know, the Nazi swastika and a picture of a so-called Jewish person with exaggerated features, just like Goebbels did during the Third Reich. It’s the same thing, right out of that same playbook,” Behar said.
Then, co-host Whoopi Goldberg said TPUSA was complicit in the neo-Nazis attending the conference when, in reality, that was not factual. Even after the show read a disclaimer from TPUSA condemning the neo-Nazis, Goldberg decided to make these comments.
“You let them in and you knew what they were, so you are complicit,” Goldberg said.
As a result of the cease-and-desist letter, The View was forced to read a retraction and offer an apology.
Co-host Sara Haines, not Joy Behar, who made the initial disparaging remarks, apologized for linking Turning Point USA to the neo-Nazis who showed up at the event.
“So on Monday we talked about the fact that there were openly Neo-Nazi demonstrators outside the Florida student action summit of the Turning Point USA group,” Haines said. “We want to make clear that these demonstrators were gathered outside the event and that they were not invited or endorsed by Turning Point USA.”
“A Turning Point USA spokesman said the group, quote, ‘100% condemns those ideologies,’ and said Turning Point USA security tried to remove the Neo-Nazis from the area but could not because they were on public property. Also, Turning Point USA wanted us to clarify that this was a Turning Point USA summit and not a Republican Party event,” Haines said. “So we apologize for anything we said that may have been unclear on these points.”
And, for what’s it worth, at least Goldberg had the integrity to offer her own apology, unlike Behar.
Goldberg said, “In Monday’s conversation about Turning Point USA, I put the young people at the conference in the same category as the protesters outside, and I don’t like it when people make assumptions about me, and it’s not any better when I make assumptions about other people, which I did. So my bad, I’m sorry.”
The View frequently attacks and disparages Republican organizations and people, often using complete lies, but encounters limited, if any, accountability for its actions. There needs to be greater accountability for The View’s ignorant, biased, and hateful words.
The View is getting off easy if it only had to offer an apology. And it wasn’t out of kindness that caused the apology; it was the threat of legal action. By only having to offer half-hearted apologies after accidentally on purpose disparaging conservative and Republican organizations it disagrees with, The View will continue its inflammatory rhetoric and nefarious actions.
