To mark the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary on Saturday — and, seemingly, to celebrate Donald Trump’s 79th birthday — Washington, D.C., is set to host a day-long event that includes a massive military parade. But, for the hosts of “The View,” the festivities are nothing more than “distasteful” hypocrisy from the president.
In discussing the parade on Friday’s episode of the ABC talk show, the women were largely bothered by the cost of it all, which is set to be in the realm of $25 million to $45 million. But even more so, the hosts called out the context surrounding that price tag.
“I think what’s so distasteful about this is not only the cost, but the cuts that have happened with the Veterans Affairs,” host Sunny Hostin said. “I mean, if you think about it, let’s see, 6,000 veterans were fired due to budget cuts and layoffs. There are plans to remove up to 80,000 employees who provide support to veterans as well.”
“And to spend $45 million and have these cuts, it just doesn’t make sense,” she continued. “The best way to honor our troops is to make sure that our veterans are taken care of. That’s the most important thing.”
Host Ana Navarro was quick to concur, pointing out that this spending comes just days after several millions more was spent to deploy the military to Los Angeles in the wake of largely peaceful protests against ICE raids.
“I agree with you, $45 million he is spending on this parade, on top of the $135 million that he’s spending sending the Marines and the National Guard to California,” she totaled. “So that’s almost $200 million right there, at a time when DOGE directed the VA to cancel over 800 contracts that support everything from chemotherapy treatments for veterans to records digitalization, and when the 2,400 staff from the Veterans Administration were fired. So, you know, it’s the hypocrisy.”
Moderator Joy Behar — filling in for Whoopi Goldberg, who is off on Fridays — also pointed out that Trump himself did not serve.
“Here we have a guy who avoided Vietnam because of his bone spurs. No one, according to what I’ve read, no one in his family has ever served,” she noted. “His father, his grandfather, none of them have ever served. And yet he wants to have this big military.”
Meanwhile, host Alyssa Farah Griffin circled back to Hostin’s point about making sure that veterans are taken care of, arguing that “nothing says more about a nation” than that.
“And it drives me crazy, I feel like veterans become political pawns every election year,” she said. “But the fact that you’re going to potentially spend $45 million on this when the VA continues to be backlogged, when, right now, there are veterans that are dealing with homelessness, with PTSD, with wounds of war that are not being properly cared for. That’s really hard to compute.”
You can watch the full discussion from “The View” in the video above.
