Joy Behar, a co-host on ABC’s The View, suggested this week that a “conservative woman” might have a quicker path to winning the U.S. presidential election compared to a “liberal” candidate.
On the program’s podcast, producer Brian Teta asked Behar and fellow co-host Sunny Hostin if the country is becoming more accepting of women leaders. Hostin responded, “Maybe for women in general, but never for black women. Not in my lifetime.”
“Even if someone like Liz Cheney isn’t currently facing backlash in her party, she could potentially run,” Behar said. “It’s possible that a conservative woman could get elected faster than a liberal.”
Teta concurred, noting, “Many people share that belief. A conservative woman might be the one who wins first.”
“I mean, a conservative white woman, yes,” Hostin clarified, emphasizing race and implying that the election of a female president might still be far off. “Misogyny is rampant in this country.”
Teta added, “After Obama was first elected, I never thought we’d regress to where we are now.”
“I think Trump’s election was a backlash against having a black president,” Hostin said.
During Monday’s show, the women addressed recent comments made by former first lady Michelle Obama, who stated that America isn’t “ready for a woman to be president.”
Behar observed that other nations have already selected women as leaders, including Italy, Iceland, and Mexico, arguing that the United States is “the only country” yet to do so.
“I respectfully disagree with the first lady’s perspective,” co-host Alyssa Farrah Griffin remarked regarding Michelle Obama’s comments.
“I don’t think we aren’t ready yet,” Griffin continued. “When you examine the two Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris, yes, there’s always an element of sexism. But they were flawed candidates.”
Hostin expressed her thoughts, again spotlighting race, suggesting that electing a black woman would face obstacles of racism and misogyny, given that America’s first black president was elected in 2008 amid a backdrop of systemic racism and slavery.
“Drawing from my experience as an Afro-Latina, I view the world through a distinct lens, and I’m here to express uncomfortable truths to this audience, my co-hosts,” Hostin emphasized.
“This nation is rooted in racism and slavery, with systemic racism and misogyny at its core,” she concluded.
