As Donald Trump continues to make selections for his second presidential cabinet, the hosts of “The View” are now pretty sure that he’s just in “burning-down mode,” intentionally picking unqualified candidates.
The assertion came during the first Hot Topic of the day, as the ABC hosts discussed Trump’s pick of Mehmet Oz — known on television as Dr. Oz — to oversee medicare and medicaid.
Oz has previously made several false or baseless medical claims — in 2014 he had to testify to the Senate after accusations of false advertising for supplements he promoted on his show — and had several colleagues sign an open letter in 2015 calling for his faculty position at Columbia University to be revoked.
“This is an administrative position. But because he’s on television, Trump picks people who are on TV,” host Joy Behar said of Oz’s appointment. “They might as well pick Dr. Pimple Popper. I mean, the guy is qualified to do heart surgery, not necessarily run medicare.”
But, with his selection of Oz, Trump proved one thing very clearly, in Behar’s opinion.
“Trump, it seems to me, with all of his choices, it seems to me like he really is in the burning down mode,” she said. “‘Let’s just destroy all these organizations, and then start over again.’ Something like that is going on in his little brain.”
Host Sunny Hostina agreed, saying that Trump is selecting people who are “woefully inadequate” solely “because he wants to consolidate power as a fascist does.”
“We need to be very clear-eyed about, and not so much joke about these types of appointments, because he’s doing this intentionally, right in front of our faces,” she said.
“The View” airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.