The View hosts are not convinced by Melania Trump’s support for abortion rights put forth in the former First Lady’s new memoir.
Melania, 54, the wife of former president Donald Trump, made headlines this week after an excerpt from her forthcoming book was published by The Guardian.
“Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body?” she writes in Melania. “A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes.”
Her pro-choice stance stands in stark contrast to her husband’s history of dismantling abortion protections. On The View on Thursday, co-host Joy Behar suggested it was all “a big scam.”
“62 percent of Americans oppose overthrowing Roe v Wade – 62 percent – the Republican Party knows this. I think they put her up to this,” Behar said on the ABC talk show. “I think it’s a big scam. They put her out there, you know, as the face of, like, the American population that wants to have abortion rights.
“I think that this is just a big lie,” she said. “I don’t buy it.”
Behar’s co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin agreed that it was a “strategic” move, going even further to suggest that she thinks it was also made to increase book sales.
“Who was gonna buy this book outside of MAGA diehards?” Griffin said. “But now it’s buzzy, now we’re talking about it because she’s putting stuff out there that’s more interesting.”
Sunny Hostin jumped in with a more extreme speculation, saying: “I think she hates him. That’s a given. I also think that she wants to take him out. She does not want to be the first lady anymore. She doesn’t want to be the first lady.
“She destroyed the Rose Garden,” Hostin added, referring to Melania’s controversial revamp of the White House Rose Garden. “Who hates Christmas? Melania Trump hates Christmas. She doesn’t want to decorate for Christmas. She doesn’t want anything to do with him. She doesn’t want to sleep in the same room with him. She can’t tolerate him.”
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
Whoopi Goldberg interrupted to note that Hostin’s claims were “alleged” before the latter continued: “I really think that this is her way of undercutting his bid for the presidency because then she doesn’t have to deal with him anymore.
“I think that she wants to take him out and she’s doing a pretty damn good job with that.”
The Independent has contacted Melania’s representative for comment.
Trump, who has previously boasted about his role in the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade, has since broken his silence on his wife’s support of abortion rights.
“We spoke about it,” he told Fox News’s Bill Melugin. “And I said, you have to write what you believe. I’m not going to tell you what to do. You have to write what you believe. I said you have to stick with your heart. I’ve said that to everybody, you have to go with your heart.”