Whoopi Goldberg and her cohorts on “The View” took a few pointed jabs at newly minted presidential candidate Donald Trump on Thursday, discussing reports that Trump paid extras to attend the launch of his campaign and tearing into the real estate mogul over statements perceived as anti-immigrant.
Goldberg and the crew also brought South Carolina senator and presidential candidate Lindsey Graham onto the show to discuss the deadly church shooting in his state.
“Is this more shocking than his verbiage?” Goldberg asked when the subject of the Trump campaign allegedly paying extras $50 to attend his announcement came up. (Trump’s camp has denied the allegation.)
“A lot of it is stagecraft on both sides” in politics, “20/20” personality Elizabeth Vargas, on hand as a co-host, offered.
“There’s a fine line,” Nicolle Wallace added, “but the line is usually drawn right before writing a check and paying them.”
Rosie Perez took issue with the candidate’s anti-immigrant statements.
“What he said about Mexicans and what he said about the Chinese, it just blows my mind. Trump, what are you doing?” Perez asked.
Fellow candidate Jeb Bush also wandered into the “View” firing line, thanks to his apparent criticism of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
“I think this is where people get turned off of politics,” Wallace said of the trash talking. “This is about the point where young people start to say, ‘Eh, it’s a little nasty.’”
Goldberg opined that Bush has bigger fish to fry.
“You have other issues to worry about right now,” Goldberg said of Bush, noting that his “fabulous” wife is a Mexican woman. “You need to get up in Trump’s face.”
Goldberg predicted a showdown on the topic.
“I think the media makes [Trump] much bigger than he actually is,” Goldberg asserted. “The truth of the matter is, time will tell, honey. We’ll see where you stand. I can’t wait for Jeb to see your ass!”
Noting that his relatives had attended the same school as the Charleston church shooting suspect, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, Graham emphasized that Roof is not representative of his state or the nation as a whole.
“It’s not a window into the soul of South Carolina. It’s not who we are, it’s not who our country is,” Graham said. “It’s about this guy, and this guy’s got tons of problems.”
The topic then expanded to race relations and violence in America. Graham pointed to Baltimore, which was recently wracked by protests following the death of Freddie Gray.
“If you have bad schools and no jobs, it doesn’t matter their race or the background, you’re going to get a bad outcome,” Graham offered.
Both Goldberg and Graham opined that, despite recent flare-ups, race relations have improved in America overall.
“Things have gotten better,” Goldberg said. “They’re not perfect.”