Whoopi Goldberg calls for a constitutional amendment to bar Trump from the presidency if he goes to prison
'The View' co-host suggested the Constitution should be amended to prevent Donald Trump from running for president if he is sent to jail on charges stemming from his retention of classified materials.
Several co-hosts of ABC’s "The View" demanded an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to keep former President Donald Trump from becoming president while being in prison Thursday.
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg seemed the most adamant about the idea, claiming it was starting to "freak me out" that no one has proposed such an amendment even though Trump has been charged with federal crimes but still continues to be the GOP frontrunner for president in 2024.
Her colleague Sunny Hostin agreed, while fellow co-host Joy Behar shared a more pessimistic view, arguing an amendment wouldn’t stop Trump from getting his way.
The discussion happened during the first segment of the ABC daytime talk show when the ladies continued discussing the fallout from the federal indictment of the former president for his alleged improper handling of classified documents.
"The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg expressed her anxiety that no one was proposing a Constitutional amendment to keep former President Donald Trump from the presidency if he ends up in prison over his recent federal indictment. (Screenshot/ABC)
Recent polling has shown that the indictment has done little to change Trump’s favorability among GOP voters, and that, combined with the fact that there is no apparent legal obstacle for Trump running for president as a felon, was a concern for Goldberg and company.
Goldberg mentioned she was nervous about the idea of Trump becoming president despite being behind bars, lamenting that nothing was being proposed by U.S. lawmakers to prevent it.
"What was really started to freak me out is the idea that we're not even discussing changing the Constitution to make it say you cannot be in jail and be the president," she said.
After applause from the audience, Hostin chimed in with her solution, saying, "An amendment would be nice."
Goldberg ran with the idea, saying, "I’m a big fan of amendments, because I feel like unless we start to plug these holes, this is going to keep biting us in the behind. And it really is going to take people saying, ‘Hey, listen, if I can't vote when I come out of jail, why can you be president?’"
Hostin replied, "That’s a wonderful point." Token conservative co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin nodded in agreement, adding, "That’s a very good point."
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Recent polling has shown that the federal indictment of former President Donald Trump hasn't altered GOP voters' support for him, prompting some in the media to worry he could still be president in 2024 even if he ends up convicted by the indictment and thrown in prison. (SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images)
Hostin followed up saying, "Amendments are very American, you know?"
She then said, "Some people argue some people argue the Constitution is not a breathing and living thing, that it's sort of stagnant. I, of course, feel differently. I feel it's a living and breathing thing. Because we didn't have cell phones before. We don't know there would be AR-15s."
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Whoopi added that the Constitution "has to grow with the country." She then opined that maybe "weird stuff has been happening in the country" to show Americans "where the problems are."
Mentioning Trump without naming him, she said, "I think the fact that we have this situation now with you-know-who is there to tell us, ‘Hey, y'all have a problem and these kinds of things are going to start coming up because these kinds of people, people who are not reading the Constitution, don't know the law, don't know how this country runs are now starting to get in.’"
Behar said she didn’t believe an amendment would happen thanks to "feckless Republicans" in power.
She replied, "Well, because as long as you have these feckless Republicans in the law and order party ready to give this criminal a free pass and a get out of jail free pass, you’re never going to – even an amendment is not going to change those people."
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Mentioning GOP House members by name, she added, "Whoopi, we give power to George Santos, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, all these horrible people – liars, anti-American traitors that they are, and they stop the progress of what you’re talking about."
Still, Goldberg stood by her idea, declaring, "But the amendment will change how we deal with people who come up like this. That's what I want."