Vice President JD Vance spent much of his first guest spot on The View defending Donald Trump and members of his administration, or doing a bit of cleanup on some of the president’s remarks.
The interview to promote his new book Communion (watch it below) was confrontational yet always civil, to the point where he acknowledged that co-host Joy Behar had called him “fine” backstage.
But he was challenged as he tried to claim that some of Trump’s remarks had been misinterpreted, including when the president said last week, “I love the inflation.” Democrats quickly seized on the comment.
“What he said is that he loves the fact that the inflation is going to come down when the war is over,” Vance said. “That’s what he said.”
“That’s not what he said,” co-host Whoopi Goldberg responded.
“Are you his interpreter, or are you his vice president?” Behar interjected.
Vance also disputed that Trump had called affordability a “hoax,” saying that the president was referring to the idea that the Republicans caused the affordability problem.
Vance’s appearance was a rarity: A member of the Trump administration, guesting on a program that currently is the target of an investigation spearheaded by the president’s FCC chairman, Brendan Carr.
That probe, over the FCC’s equal time rule, was not brought up, even as ABC is challenging it as politically motivated. Goldberg, though said in introducing Vance, “For 29 seasons, this show has invited thousands of guests with all kinds of diverse points of view, and we have been asking our next guest to join us for a while now. So we’re glad that he’s taken up on the offer today.”
During the hour, Vance, among other things, defended Trump’s response to the Jeffrey Epstein files, albeit he did not directly address the veracity of a bombshell New York Times report last week that the issue became such a crisis for the administration last year that the vice president and other officials held a strategy session in the Situation Room.
During the interview, Vance acknowledged that inflation was too high, but compared it to the levels of the Biden administration. He also said that the economy is being boosted by new investment, the impacts of which have not been fully realized.
The View co-hosts, though, seemed most skeptical as he tried to defend the administration’s policies on deportations.
There also was some back and forth when Goldberg pressed him on the issue of race.
“What did Black people do to this administration that has allowed it to really stigmatize folks of color? And you know how hard it is. You have folks of color in your family. So when you see, you know things, the Emmett Till stuff coming down, or them doing all kinds of removal of information of Black heroes, how does that sit with you?”
Vance asked Goldberg “what exactly are you talking about.”
She cited removal of exhibits “in a lot of museums. There’s so many, where they’re taking down the actual history that happened in this country. Slavery happened. All kinds of stuff happened. And it seems that it has been very easy for this administration to remove that, and also to denigrate Black folks who have worked their behinds off to get this American dream.”
Vance responded, “I think the story you are talking about is where allegedly the administration is holding back the appointments of people based on skin color. I have seen the story.” Vance appeared to be referencing reports on stalled appointments at the Department of Defense under Pete Hegseth.
In their talk of the removal of exhibits, Goldberg, as well as co-host Sonny Hostin, were referencing the revision of historical exhibits at national parks. Last week, a federal judge ordered the administration to reinstate exhibits that reference topics like slavery and climate change.
Hostin said, “I’m talking about Black history getting erased from public spaces. Black voter districts are being dismantled. Black leaders are being sidelined from our ranks. Where do Americans of color fit in this vision. Because it doesn’t seem like we fit.”
Vance said that “maybe you don’t believe this coming from me, but I think everybody is welcome in our political coalition. Frankly, even if you didn’t vote for us, everybody is welcome in our country so long as you are an American citizen with the duties and obligations and rights to be here.”
Vance then pointed out Trump’s focus on Washington, D.C., where he has dispatched the National Guard. Vance pointed out that it was “one of the most Democratic and one of the Blackest by share of the population,” and that it has seen “a radical decrease in violent crimes and sexual assaults and murders. We have tried to take the crime issue seriously, in part becasue we believe that everybody, whether you’re Black or white or rich or poor, deserves to live in a safe neighborhood.”
Goldberg then responded: “Why does the crime step in? This is not about crime. This is about rights.”
Vance responded: “We celebrate Black history. We celebrate all history in this administration. You guys may be skeptical of this, but I promise you it is true.”
The interview ended on a friendly note when the show presented him with a View-branded baby jumper, as Vance and his wife Usha are expecting their fourth child.
Watch the interview here: