Ladies of ‘The View’ clash over Melania Trump’s nude photos: ‘Republicans do it plenty, right?’

False equivalencies were the order of the day as the cast of “The View” saw fit to sound off on former first lady Melania Trump’s defense of years-old nude photos.


(Video: ABC)

Foregoing a disclaimer for inbound inane arguments, the ladies of ABC’s daytime talk show leaped right at the chance to lambaste the former supermodel. Roping in “Michelle Obama’s arms” and making claims about cancel culture, the co-hosts squabbled over “hypocrisy” and “slut-shaming.”

“You know, you gotta love the little birther. You know what I’m saying? And we all appreciate the female body, Melania. Listen, your husband appreciated Stormy Daniels’ body plenty. Am I right?” Joy Behar sounded off after playing the audio from Trump’s recent promotional video for her upcoming memoir.

“It’s more the hypocrisy of it. And what bothers me about it is the Republican Party has long, kind of, ridden the family values, the purest people, the judgment on everyone else’s lives; from banning books to shutting down drag performances,” said Sara Haines whose false equivalency made no mention of the fact that she was comparing conservative efforts to shield children from the content, not ban those things altogether. “So, to then all the sudden flip the script and say, ‘Now we appreciate this thing’ it just, it felt like it was — it doesn’t track.”

In a video since viewed almost 8 million times, the former first lady featured historic works of art as she stood behind her own portfolio and presented, “The more pressing question is: Why has the media chosen to scrutinize my celebration of the human form in a fashion photo shoot? Are we no longer able to appreciate the beauty of the human body?”

“Throughout history, master artists have revered the human shape, evoking profound emotions and admiration,” added Trump. “We should honor our bodies and embrace the timeless tradition of using art as a powerful means of self-expression.”

“I actually agreed with everything she said,” remarked Alyssa Farah Griffin who went on to add. “What I was surprised by is, I don’t know any serious person who’s been criticizing her for this in a decade, since she first ran for office. But I would say this — if they are on the left, I don’t think you defeat misogyny, sexism, slut-shaming, by engaging in it. I think that you should — if that’s what you stand for, you shouldn’t do it to Melania Trump any more than you shouldn’t someone else.”

“Didn’t they go after Michelle Obama’s arms? Come on,” interjected Behar before Sunny Hostin introduced her own comparison.

“I was going to say that one of the problems with this whole thing is that when she was the first lady, you could only refer to her as a former model. You could not mention the photos. If you mentioned the photos, you were canceled,” claimed the co-host. “And by the way, these aren’t just photos. These are erotic, nude photos. This is the same thing that took down Vanessa Williams, okay.”

“And that is not acceptable,” she added without reminding that Williams was representing the Miss America organization when her photos had been released, leading to her relinquishing her title as Miss America 1984.

Tensions grew when Ana Navarro chimed in with a holier-than-thou argument to state, “When I see somebody that calls themselves the party of God and the party of religiousness supporting Donald Trump, I’m gonna call out the hypocrisy.”

A terse back-and-forth found Griffin asking, “Do you have a problem with slut-shaming though?”

“Well, I have a problem when — Republicans do it plenty, right? They try’d to do it with Kamala Harris,” asserted Navarro comparing photoshoots as a paid model to Harris allegedly capitalizing on relationships to advance her political career.

“Right, but I’m asking if you have a problem with it,” reiterated Griffin as her co-host replied, “With slut-shaming? Not a bit. I have a problem with hypocrisy. I have a problem with liars.”

For all their talk of “hypocrisy,” users on social media were prepared to call out the ABC cast with their own assertions on how the tables would be turned if Trump were a Democrat.

Kevin Haggerty

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