A heated exchange broke out on “The View” on Tuesday, as co-host Sunny Hostin sparred with Geraldo Rivera over Donald Trump’s alleged racism.
The argument began when Hostin said that Trump’s comments about Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria were “racist.” Rivera, who is of Puerto Rican heritage, disagreed, saying that Trump was simply “criticizing the government of Puerto Rico.”
Hostin then asked Rivera if he thought Trump knew that he was Puerto Rican. Rivera said that he didn’t know, but that it didn’t matter.
“Everyone knows I was close to Donald Trump for decades. You can boo or cheer. We came up together in New York from the 1970s when he was in New York,” Rivera explained.
“That was different, he was a New York character,” Joy Behar replied. “I went to his wedding.”
“Right and I did ‘Celebrity Apprentice,’ and then as fate would have it, just weeks after I did ‘Celebrity Apprentice,’ he announced for the presidency,” Rivera continued. “So, I mean, how many people have their friend, the drinking buddy — although he didn’t drink, I did — in the White House as president of the United States? He gave me tremendous access. He was always very nice to me, even though he knew I didn’t vote for him. So, you know, I have a different …”
“What happened to him?” Behar asked then.
Rivera said that losing the 2020 election had been a pivotal moment, arguing that after that happened Trump “became a crazy guy.”
“He was crazy before that. What are you talking about?” Behar laughed.
“I mean, he was a misogynist and a racist before then,” Hostin interjected.
“Well, listen, he was always nice to me,” Rivera pushed back. “But you’re right. You’re right.”
“Did he know you were Puerto Rican?” Hostin asked, suggesting that Trump might not have been as nice to Rivera if he had known that he was Puerto Rican.
“A lot of Puerto Ricans like Donald Trump,” Rivera objected.
“I’m not one of them,” Hostin replied.
After being fired from Fox News' 'The Five,' @GeraldoRivera tells #TheView exclusively he left the network because his "ideology does not fit Fox."
"If you fired me from the number one [Fox News] show, then I'm going to quit," he says he told executives. https://t.co/cVclFZQmjA pic.twitter.com/xmTjjsGfvr
— The View (@TheView) July 13, 2023
