The View co-host Joy Behar ripped former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday for saying Americans will need to sacrifice and accept more death in order to quickly reopen the American economy, sardonically asking whether the Republican is actually as “pro-life” as he claims.
During an interview with CNN on Monday, Christie—a one-time Trump transition team member—pushed for a reversal of shelter-in-place restrictions in order to immediately open businesses and public places back up, insisting that the impact of the shutdowns was as bad or worse than the deaths from the coronavirus pandemic.
“Of course, everybody wants to save every life they can—but the question is, towards what end, ultimately?” Christie declared. “Are there ways that we can thread the middle here to allow that there are going to be deaths, and there are going to be deaths no matter what?”
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Leading off Tuesday’s broadcast of the ABC talk show with Christie’s comments, co-host Sunny Hostin said Christie—now an ABC News contributor and frequent View guest—was posing a “false dilemma.”
“If people go to work, they’ll die. If people don’t go to work, they will die,” Hostin noted. “The quarantine is not killing people. The quarantine is saving people’s lives. What’s killing people is the coronavirus.”
“This false dilemma we’re hearing from so many Republicans is just that—it’s false,” she added. “It’s just not true.”
Behar, meanwhile, asserted that Christie comparing the “sacrifice” Americans made fighting in World War II to the pandemic was a “false analogy,” calling his remarks “completely ridiculous” while slamming President Donald Trump’s response to the crisis.
“In this particular situation where we’re fighting what [Trump] calls the invisible enemy, he’s basically leaving everything up to the states,” Behar exclaimed. “That’s not the equivalent of World War II, Governor Christie, with all due respect.”
After deriding Trump's lack of leadership during the crisis, Behar turned back to criticizing Christie for telling Americans that they will need to accept more deaths going forward.
“By the way, governor, I thought you were pro-life,” she huffed. “Are you pro-life or not pro-life? You need to straighten that out.”
“Also, which lives are we talking about?” Behar continued. “Are we talking about the medical workers on the frontlines? These are the people who will be at most risk. In World War II we sacrificed young lives. Seems like they’re willing to sacrifice old lives this time. To what? To save the economy?!”
