View’s Joy Behar Warns Morning Joe She Avoided Sharing ‘Beer’ with George W. Bush Since ‘I Knew I Would Like Him’ After Trump Visit Backlash
The View’s Joy Behar claimed she avoided sharing “a beer” with former President George W. Bush — who has been sober for decades — because she knew “I would like him” while pointing out her “problem” with the hosts of Morning Joe jetting off to Mar-a-Lago for an off the record conversation with President-elect Donald Trump.
Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough went off on Thursday against critics of his and Mika Brzezinski’s trip to visit the president-elect. Scarborough denied the trip was made because he’s “fearing” Trump. Scarborough warned numerous times before the election that Trump was a danger to democracy. While Trump has had a good relationship with the show in the past, he’s since feuded with the hosts and even spread conspiracy theories about Scarborough.
During Thursday’s The View, the hosts discussed backlash to the Morning Joe visit and shared their own criticisms, including Behar warning that such private visits could lead to some bias in coverage.
“I think the problem that people are having with it is that there’s a certain feeling that they’re normalizing him, and he’s not normal. He’s not. He’s a very unusual case. He’s a TV talk show host, whatever it was that show he did,” she said.
“The Apprentice,” Sunny Hostin offered.
“He became president based on a lot of lies, so I don’t think it’s just that they’re going down there to talk to them like they talk to the Taliban. I don’t think so,” Behar continued.
Alyssa Farah Griffin had earlier defended opening “dialogue” between opposing parties, noting that during her time in the Trump administration they were negotiating with the Taliban for an Afghanistan withdrawal, though she made it clear she was not comparing her former boss to the terror group.
Behar then claimed she avoided having a personal relationship with Bush because it may have prevented her from criticizing the Republican because she knew she would “like him.”
“By the way, I have a personal thing about this because when George W. Bush was in the White House, I knew that if I had a beer with the guy I would like him. I knew it,” she said. “And so I didn’t want to have a beer with him. I had things to say about George W. Bush that were critical of him. If I had sat down with the guy, I would feel maybe I can’t anymore. That’s my problem with Morning Joe.”
If Behar had shared a beer with Bush, his would have had to be non-alcoholic as the former president is famously sober, having wrestled with drinking issues in the past including a 1976 DUI. He said during the 2000 presidential race, he hadn’t had a drop of alcohol since 1986.
“Quitting drinking was one of the toughest decision I have ever made. Without it, none of the others that follow would have been possible,” he said about sobriety.
Watch above via ABC.
