"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin on Thursday argued that the U.S. is a "misogynistic country" because the nation has twice failed to elect a female president, while co-hosts Sara Haines and Alyssa Farah Griffin denied sexism was to blame for the losses.
Reacting to Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, voicing concerns during a recent podcast appearance that Democrats may steer clear of nominating another female candidate for president in 2028 following the defeats of Hillary Clinton in 2016 and former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, Haines warned, "We've got to stop telling the American public what they're ready for."
However, fellow co-host Joy Behar interjected, "We lost twice when women ran."
Haines pushed back, asking, "Is there no distinguishing factors to each woman and why they might have lost? Is there no nuance?"
After further back and forth, Hostin jumped in, saying, "This country is a misogynistic country, and this country is a country that, out of all the first world countries, hasn't been able to elect a female president. That's just factual."
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Hostin declared that former President Bill Clinton's past was weaponized against Hillary Clinton during her campaign, and insisted she was one of the "most qualified" candidates for president. Haines suggested there were other reasons why Clinton did not win.
Griffin also rejected the notion that sexism was the primary reason for Harris' defeat, saying, "Sexism, racism, absolutely exist. It absolutely is a factor in elections. It is not the determinative factor in the 2024 election and I disagreed strongly with President Biden when he basically blamed that on why Kamala Harris lost."
"She outperformed Joe Biden when he was in the race. The numbers went up. The fundraising went up. She had a short window to run, and I think all the data that we have when you see why she lost the battleground states, it's not because a bunch of racist Democrats didn't turn out for her," Griffin continued, "That's not why."
Former President Joe Biden sat down with the co-hosts of "The View" last week and blamed sexism for Harris' loss.
"I wasn't surprised, not because I didn't think the vice president was the most qualified person to be president. She is. She's qualified to be President of the United States of America. I was surprised, I was surprised because they went the route of, the sexist route, the whole route. I mean, this is a woman, she's this, she's that. I mean, it really, I've never seen quite as successful and a consistent campaign undercutting the notion that a woman couldn't lead the country, and a woman of mixed race," Biden told the hosts.
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On Thursday, co-host Whoopi Goldberg said, "It's very important that when we're talking that you all understand why we talk from a color place, because that's how we're judged. That's how we're seen."
"You're all smart people. You know, you can't, you cannot ask people to run and, if they're running because they want to make sure gay and straight people have the same rights, that women have the same rights as a man in this country. These can't be weaponized as wokism," she added.
"We lost, we know it. I don't know why she lost, because she was qualified. It doesn't matter, because all that really matters now is what we're dealing with right now," Goldberg said.
Behar went on to argue that female candidates "can't get elected" in the U.S.
"We have experienced the reality that these women can't get elected. You have to acknowledge that it's certainly there," Behar added.
