My kids don’t let go of lies easily. In their minds, the more they repeat it, the more true it becomes. At a certain point, they get frustrated with me, because they know I won’t listen to them tell me, for the fifteenth time, that they didn’t intentionally throw the food on the floor even though I watched them do it. I’ll explain that I don’t want to hear the lie anymore and that we must move on. This will work sometimes. Sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t mind, because they’re both three years old.
The thing with kids their age is that they do not know any better. They are testing their boundaries. They are learning, because that’s what kids do. At a certain point, most of us understand that you can’t lean into a lie that people know. Unfortunately, a certain former President has spent much of his political career proving that, if you are a straight white man, you can repeat lies over and over again and see almost no consequences.
Counting all of Donald Trump’s lies would be an immeasurable task. If he is breathing, he is lying. It is what he does. He’s not even good at it. He must have been at some point, to amass the kind of cultural footprint that he has. Now? The man stood in front of 60 million people and claimed, “Now she wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison,” referring to Vice President Kamala Harris. It is insane to me that a clip of him spouting that ridiculous lie has not been played over and over again.
That’s part of Trump’s game. He lies so much that it can be hard for people to focus on just one. Unless, of course, it is one of his biggest lies. The big lie, as it has been dubbed. The idea that he, not Joe Biden, won the 2020 election. A lie so big that it, and Trump’s words and actions, inspired an attempted insurrection on January 6th, 2021.
Despite the horrific actions of that day, failed lawsuits by Trump and his legal team, and the fact that Trump himself has accidentally admitted to losing on several occasions, he still pushes the lie. Not only does he stand by it, other people are forced to push it for him, as it is his “legal defense.” Whoopi Goldberg has had it up to here with holding Trump’s water.
On a recent episode of The View, on which Goldberg is a co-host, fellow co-host, Sunny Hostin, read a legal note on air. “I now have a legal note,” she explained. “Donald Trump has denied any wrongdoing related to the 2020 election.” We’ve all heard it, we don’t believe it, and Whoopi did not remain silent despite the show attempting to move on. “I find that so interesting,” Goldberg said, adding, “We have to do these legal notes each time to say what has been proven to be a fact. We have to deny it on their behalf. Is that right?”
Her questions were directed at the show’s producer, Brian Teta, setting off the following exchange. “We have to state the denials that they’ve stated,” Teta explained. Goldberg wasn’t having it, saying, “One day you’ll tell me why.” “I think I’ve told you a couple of times but we can talk about it again,” Teta told her. But Goldberg wouldn’t let it go, saying, “I find it odd when everybody has seen it, and they know that it’s not necessarily the truth.”
Teta clarified that they’re “showing what [Trump’s team] has said on the record.” Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin jumped in, saying, “We can do it off-air, guys.” Teta agreed, noting, “We’re out of time, the music is playing.”
Goldberg relented, “Alright, well, we’ll be back,” she said. The back-and-forth is brief but gets Goldberg’s point across well.
I’m sure there is some legal reason why the show has to plead Trump’s case. It is an opinion-based show, so they likely don’t want to get sued (or threatened with a suit, as is Trump’s MO). It makes it no less absurd that people should have to repeat his lie, especially when everyone knows that’s the case. By avoiding upsetting him, she is helping him spread his biggest lie, and he doesn’t deserve that.