President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth gathered 800 military generals for an address on Tuesday morning, but to the hosts of “The View,” it was more like a “knockoff Ted Talk” — and they couldn’t figure out the point.
During their speeches, Trump and Hegseth threatened demotions, railed against “woke” policies, fat-shamed and encouraged the return of hazing, among other things. For host Alyssa Farah Griffin, the biggest issue was that Hegseth opted to “denigrate” other military officials.
“I’m very lost on the fact that it seems like it’s become a Republican party position out of nowhere that the U.S. military is weak,” she said. We’re the greatest fighting force in the history of mankind.”
Farah Griffin added that the US military is “also a deterring force,” and shamed Hegseth for calling out certain military generals — two under whom Farah Griffin served in the government — by name.
“You don’t need to attack other people’s service to make yourself feel better,” she added.
Host Sara Haines argued that Hegseth and Trump likely made any recruiting problems worse for the military. She also questioned the logic of televising the event, considering it openly advertises that “all of our generals have left their post.”
Haines also took issue with the fact that it cost an estimated $6 million in taxpayer dollars for travel, lodging and security for these generals, all for a meeting that could’ve been done via Zoom. But, like Farah Griffin she took issue with the disrespect of these people more than anything.
“There’s a pride to their service, and their rank and file. These are the tip top of the military line, listening to someone give kind of a knockoff Ted Talk about something, and I still haven’t figured out what it is,” she said.
“I think it’s a waste of money, it’s a waste of time, and do they know that the government might be shutting down tonight, and we are paying money to make it a mandatory meeting to hear from Pete Hegseth?” Haines continued.
Host Sunny Hostin agreed that “the optics were terrible,” while host Joy Behar suggested it was yet another distraction by the Trump administration.
“The View” airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.
