ABC

On Thursday’s (October 17) edition of The View, there were a few programming notes for the cohosts to get through right away: First, Whoopi Goldberg, who is usually present on Thursdays, was absent (and Joy Behar explained that she isn’t sick, just had the day off), and second, all five of the panelists were wearing purple in celebration of Spirit Day and to show support for LGBTQ community members. Finally, they also announced that vice presidential candidate Tim Walz would be joining the show on Monday (October 21). “We’re gettin’ all of them!” Behar rejoiced.

After that bit of housekeeping, though, the panelists got right to the business of their first “Hot Topic” of the day, which was Kamala Harris’ much-buzzed interview with Fox News host Bret Baier.

“Kamala Harris went deep into their territory on Fox News yesterday,” Behar said as a bit of introduction. “Trump would never go on MSNBC. He can’t even spell it! Harris faced a contentious interview from the very first question, and she had to be her own fact checker.”

The group then reviewed a bit of the most viral footage from the interview, in which Harris declined to call Donald Trump’s supporters “stupid” — “I would never say that about the American people,” she declared in the clip — and another segment in which she pushed back on Baier’s choice of footage to exemplify Trump’s statements about “the enemy within” in reference to his political opponents.

“So basically she called out his lie in real-time, which is refreshing isn’t it?” Behar said. “It is,” Sunny Hostin agreed.

The group then reviewed the footage truly at issue in which he called Democratic officials “Marxists” and “fascists” and insisted “they’re sick,” including, specifically Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi.

“Bret, he did himself a disservice by what he did,” Hostin responded. “He’s known for doing the bidding of Fox News, but he ends his show every night, ‘Fair and balanced and unafraid.’ Well, that was not fair and balanced.” Hostin went on to note that Baier’s name has been associated with certain scandals at the network in the past, including suggesting that the network’s 2020 election call of Arizona for Joe Biden should be withdrawn under pressure. “I have a very different opinion of Bret Baier after not only watching what he did on the clip, but then connecting it to his real history,” Hostin added.

Alyssa Farah Griffin praised Harris for taking on the interview, saying, “She’s running, she says all the time, to be president for all Americans, so that includes Fox News viewers. To me, it was a mixed bag, and I think that underscores why the country is so polarized and why the race is so close. The right was saying it was a dumpster, an unmitigated disaster. The left was saying this was the second coming of JFK. I think it was somewhere in between. She showed up to prove to Fox News viewers that she is not a moron like Trump has called her. She has a command of the facts, and she pushed back on the notion that she can’t be tough.”

Sara Haines criticized Baier’s handling of the interview, saying, “The constant jumping in, I couldn’t help but feel it’s because she’s a woman that he’s going to keep doing this. So it got a little hard to watch at times. But I think she did a huge service to herself, going exactly where people are. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is canceling interviews, from 60 Minutes to CNBC.”

Ana Navarro expanded on that last point, saying, “I remember when Donald Trump stomped out of a 60 Minutes interview four years ago — as you just said, he refuses to do it — took off his mic and stomped out on Leslie Stahl. I remember when he threw Jorge Ramos out of a press conference because he asked him a tough question. I remember him berating Jim Acosta at the White House press room because he didn’t like the questions. Kamala Harris went there and answered the questions about relevant things. She could have said, ‘You know what, Bret? Tell you what, why don’t we just play music for 39 minutes.’”

“She looked like a commander in chief,” Hostin declared to audience applause before adding that she thought Harris threaded the needle of being “humble” in the interview well. “You can’t be passionate. It’s described as ‘aggressive,’” she explained, then criticizing a fellow Fox News personality, Dana Perino, for her assessment that Harris “came in hot and then got angrier.” About that, Hostin said, “It’s the angry Black woman trope.”