The co-hosts of The View pushed back this week after First Lady Melania Trump commented on the ongoing anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests in Minneapolis.
During the Jan. 27 broadcast, the show aired a clip of Trump addressing the demonstrations and calling for calm. “I know my husband, the president, had a great call with the governor and the mayor and they’re working together to make it peaceful and without riots,” she said, before adding a direct message to demonstrators: “I’m against the violence so please, if you protest, protest in peace.”
Whoopi Goldberg was the first to crack a joke after the clip played.
“Who was that?” she quipped. “She looks so familiar, I don’t know who she was. Who was that?”
Goldberg then turned to executive producer Brian Teta to ask who the speaker was. “That was the first lady,” he replied.
Co-host Sunny Hostin pointed out that Trump appeared to be standing in front of promotional material for her upcoming Amazon documentary, Melania, which she said covers the period leading up to her husband’s inauguration. Goldberg suggested that might explain why Trump was speaking publicly about being “against violence.”
Still, Goldberg kept the teasing going, echoing the panel’s long-running on-air speculation that Trump has made fewer public appearances alongside President Donald Trump during his second term.
“I can’t remember the last time I saw her,” Goldberg joked. “So exciting.”
Hostin also revisited remarks she previously made before Trump’s reelection, when she speculated—without offering evidence—that Melania Trump may not have wanted her husband to win again. Hostin pointed to Trump’s past comments supporting reproductive rights and argued that Trump was trying to distance herself from the campaign and the role of First Lady.
Hostin went further by criticizing Trump’s approach to White House traditions, including holiday decorating, and claimed Trump wanted to “undercut” her husband’s presidential bid so she wouldn’t have to remain in the role.
