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"The View" co-host Joy Behar cheered on female journalists who challenged President Trump during his press briefings, arguing that their coverage is "inspiring."
"I want to just give a shoutout to the women in this country, our American journalists. Their coverage of these task force things that Trump is doing every night is inspiring. I mean, they are asking the hard questions. Yamiche Alcindor, I want to say good work, Yamiche. Paula Reid, Caitlin Collins -- they are going up against Trump, and they will not let go. That is exactly what all of our journalists need to keep doing. Every time he says, fake news, I say, Alcindor. Yamiche Alcindor is brilliant. She's wonderful," Behar said during Friday's show.
She was referring to three reporters who had testy confrontations in which Trump criticized their questions or respective outlet. Perhaps the most contentious was an exchange with CBS' Paula Reid, who had asked Trump why he didn't do more to address the coronavirus pandemic earlier. Trump responded by calling her "disgraceful" in the way she questioned him, adding that her outlet was "fake."
Behar's comments came as part of a broader conversation in which "The View" co-hosts touted female over male leadership during the pandemic. "Angela Merkel is the real leader of the free world right now," Behar said, referring to Germany's prime minister.
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"Let's tell the truth. Trump isn't the leader of the free world. He isn't fit really to carry her Wiener schnitzel -- and it pains me to say that. I'm not really going to say Germany, Germany is so great, but right now, Angela Merkel is pretty damn good," Behar said.
"And even Queen Elizabeth, even though she isn't making any decisions, she inspired last week, many people with her compassion and her strength. Meanwhile, we're stuck with these leaders who are, you know, taking us right off the cliff, and into the abyss."
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Co-host Sunny Hostin similarly praised Merkel while criticizing Trump.
"I would like to hear the unadulterated facts, and that is something that we have not heard from President Trump. We've heard all of the misinformation and a distortion of facts. I think if you look at the leadership, let's say of Angela Merkel in Germany, she said to her citizens, 'Listen, 70 percent of this population will be infected. We have to do this. We have to shut down the country, and she shut it down earlier than many other countries," Hostin said.
"Testing was done from the very beginning. The rate of infection is much lower than her European counterparts and what's fascinating is now they're saying, at least in Germany, some of the restrictions are going to be able to be loosened up which is something that Americans here want to happen, but it can't happen because our president sort of, you know, pooh-poohed the virus, gave misinformation, told people that it would be gone very quickly, and with the heat of the summer and all that. So I think what we're hearing from these women are just pure, unadulterated facts, you know? No chaser."