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ABC’s The View October 22, 2025 11:03:15 a.m. Eastern WHOOPI GOLDBERG: So, this will also be decided – the part that really tickles me. It's going to be decided by some of the same Justice Department lawyers who worked with him on these past cases. So Americans, the question is, are you on board with all of this? This is like a cash grab. And your taxes are probably going to be paying for that – [laughter] that ballroom. SUNNY HOSTIN: That tacky gaudy ballroom! GOLDBERG: I mean, it's kind of kooky. JOY BEHAR: I love when he says he's going to give it to charity. Like, you know, he claims he gives his $400,000 salary to charity, but it so happens that according to The New Yorker, the Trump family has made over $3.4 billion since he first entered the White House in 2017. So, oh, he's so generous to give his paltry 400 Gs away. And what charity is it? The Foundation for the Destruction of America? SARA HAINES: Joy, it’s funny you mentioned that, cause his first check, which he also touts he donated; actually went to the White House Historical Association, which is the people that pay for the renovations for the White House. So, he donated to his own renovations of the thing – BEHAR: And his own portrait, too, he paid for. HAINES: I didn't check on that part. But I think this all comes down again as we talk about him demanding money from the government as, again, the optics of this. He is, according to Forbes, a billionaire. 7.3 billion. The national debt of this country is $37.9 trillion. The government is shutdown. Federal workers aren't getting paid. They're lining up at food banks. There are videos of this all over. And he's grabbing money from the very government he says he's going to put first while funding money to give to Argentina. The optics are just messing up and I don't how long the working class that, Alyssa, you speak to a bunch, is what really shifted to the Republican right. And how long can he keep them when this is how it's playing out? I really would urge people to listen to the calls coming within the party from people like Senator Ted Cruz and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Words I never thought I’d utter. These are not centrist Republicans. They're typically Trump supporters and they're saying, ‘guys, we're not going to win if this is how angry the other side is. They show up at voting booths and this is not going to work well for us.’ BEHAR: Well, they will win if they cheat. That’s what they’re going to do. HOSTIN: You know, I think we need to speak plainly to people and I think we need to call it like it is. This is giving mob boss. Right? That’s what this is. He is extorting and looting the federal government, at is – in my view, and he's extorting and looting the federal government at he’s already extorting and looting. Because, as you mentioned, since 2017, his family has made $3.4 billion. He was just caught on tape in October 2025, it was supposed to be the Middle East, you know, Gaza cease fire summit, speaking to the president of Indonesia asking for the president of Indonesia to meet with his son, Eric, probably about a business deal. What else? How about that $400 million plane from Qatar? His private plane [uses air quotes]. How about the fact that our tax dollars now, if he gets this $230 million, is going to be used to renovate a White House which he never intends to leave! So, that’s what this is. This is about a mob boss extorting the government for his own personal, I guess, you know, gratitude and enrichment. And we are basically as taxpayers providing Trump and his family a lifestyle that he otherwise couldn't afford. BEHAR: Let's call him the coppo de tuto drifters. HOSTIN: Yes! That's basically what this is.
