Whoopi Goldberg called out Donald Trump in a recent episode of The View, criticizing his reaction to New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio's decision to paint a Black Lives Matter banner near Trump Tower. This is not the first time Goldberg has gone off on Trump.
In her speech, Goldberg talked about Trump calling Black Lives Matter a symbol of hate and highlighted two of Trump's tweets regarding Blasio's decision.
The tweets call out De Blasio's proposal to cut police funds, as well as the expensive cost of putting up a big Black Lives Matter mural in NYC. Trump said that he would rather see funds allocated to fighting crime.
De Blasio planned to paint the Black Lives Matter banner on 5th Avenue, which is where Trump's Trump Tower is located. Goldberg posed a question to Trump, she said "I just want to be clear, does the phrase, Black Lives Matter, is that a symbol of hate to you sir (Donald Trump)? " She then added that the other businesses on the same street are not complaining about the banner. Before turning the discussion over to her co-host Goldberg said that Trump is sending a very divisive and dangerous message.
Her fellow hosts seconded her opinion. When Goldberg asked fellow co-host, Meghan McCain, what she thought Trump's motivation is, she said that the media is focusing more on the divisiveness that the President is putting out. She called for mainstream media to focus more on the bi-partisan support by both conservative and liberal factions. She also said that she wished the media and the Trump administration would focus on the cooperation of both of these viewpoints in reassessments of policing and violence.
McCain also pointed out the irony in the fact that that Trump's administration is "doubling down" on its negative stance towards the Black Lives Matter movement. She said, for example, that it was tone-deaf for him to hold a rally in Tulsa on Juneteenth.
Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day, is a holiday celebrating the emancipation of slaves in the United States. The city of Tulsa was also the site of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in the Greenwood neighborhood, which at the time was the wealthiest black neighborhood in America.
Goldberg has also stopped calling Trump by his name and refers to him "as you know who" and "the guy in the white house."