JD Vance thinks “The View” host Joy Behar is “tougher than the Iranians” after his appearance on the show.
In a Thursday press briefing, Vance pointed to his Tuesday visit to the ABC talkshow as proof he is in fact built to take on high stakes negotiations. His reasonings came a day after President Donald Trump signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the conflict in Iran.
“Now, I have seen some progressive criticisms of me personally saying, ‘What experience does the vice president of the United States have with hostile, high-stakes negotiations?’” Vance said. “And I would point those progressive critics to the fact that just two days ago, I spent over an hour on ‘The View.’
“So I actually have great experience in very hostile negotiations, and I’ve used that — I mean, look, Joy Behar is way tougher than the Iranians,” he added. “And she and I are best friends now.”
Watch the moment below:
As the VP sat at “The View” table on Tuesday, the ABC hosts immediately launched into questions about various policies and issues, pushing him to defend his and the Trump administration’s positions. Behar often led the charge on the hard questioning.
“President Trump has called affordability a hoax,” Behar said Tuesday. “He said that, not me. He’s pouring money into this ballroom of his and the reflecting pool — don’t forget the Arch de Trumpe, I call it — and a White House cage match. All these things, why is he doing them when everybody knows that Americans are struggling? And what is he spending all this money for?”
Vance responded: “Well, I’ve got to defend the president on the hoax point. What the president said is the idea that Republicans caused the affordability problem is a hoax. And I think that’s true.”
Ana Navarro jumped in to say the president also said said he loved inflation and Vance went for the spin zone that what Trump said was that he loved that inflation was going down. Behar had none of it.
“That’s not what he said, but that’s all right,” she said. “Are you his interpreter or are you his vice president? Come on.”
Vance was prompted to defend his bonafides in being good in high stakes negotiations after be hit with criticisms and backlash for the $300 billion fund to Iran as part of the deal. The vice president went after the media for their coverage of the fund – which he confirmed himself on Monday.
“As you all know, the part of the peace plan, the part of this MOU that I think has been most misrepresented by certain parts of the media, is the idea that the Iranians get all these benefits,” Vance said. “You will hear things about $300 billion, or $24 billion, or this or that number – or amount – of money. And the simple fact is that the only way the Iranians get any of those resources – not a single penny, by the way, from the United States of America under any circumstances – but the only way that they would ever get any benefit of the bargain is if they comply fully and change their behavior.”
