The stars of “The View” clashed with guest host and reality personality Savannah Chrisley after she insisted on Thursday that President Trump is not a racist.
The heated debate was sparked by a discussion about Trump’s approach to DEI after moderator Whoopi Goldberg said the president “is being accused of sending mixed messages” amid Black History Month.
On Wednesday, the White House hosted a Black History Month event where the president praised the late Rev. Jesse Jackson and shouted out some of his prominent Black supporters, including boxer Mike Tyson and rapper Nicki Minaj.
The event came less than a month after the Trump administration took down a slavery exhibit in Philadelphia, and less than two weeks after the president drew bipartisan outrage for posting a racist video on social media that depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as primates in a jungle.
Chrisley, a Trump supporter who was stepping in for co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin while she’s on maternity leave, said she finds it “hard” to watch people label Trump as racist.
“I’ve seen him firsthand,” Chrisley said, noting that Trump has been friends with Black people.
Co-host Sunny Hostin swiftly chimed in: “So he has a Black friend? He’s a racist.”
Goldberg went on to elaborate on Trump’s targeting of “DEI programs with executive orders,” while also pointing to him supporting the death penalty for the “Exonerated Five” and being sued for racial discrimination in the rental of apartments from his real estate company.
Hostin then jumped back in to again accuse Trump of racism.
“Let’s call a thing a thing: Donald Trump is a racist. There’s no question in my mind,” she said. “The most recent thing that he did [was] posting on Truth Social [a video of] the Obamas depicted as apes in ‘The Lion King,’ [when] there are no apes in ‘The Lion King.’ That was a racist act. He tried to blame a staffer; a staffer did not do it.”
After Chrisley defended Trump, saying it “was in fact a staffer who posted it,” Hostin called for a clip to be played of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt telling reporters on Wednesday, “When you see it on Truth Social, you know it’s directly from President Trump.”
The “Chrisley Knows Best” star eventually admitted the White House “failed when it came to the posting of that video,” and said Trump should have “come out harder” with an apology, which he refused to give.
Chrisley’s comments came nearly nine months after Trump granted a pardon for her parents, Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were convicted of bank fraud and tax evasion in 2022 and sentenced to a combined 19 years behind bars.
