"The View" returned to the airwaves Wednesday amid former President Donald Trump's decisive reclamation of the White House.
Four years after he lost the 2020 general election to President Joe Biden, the country's former 45th president staged a stunning political comeback — and the nation's No. 1 daytime talk show responded to his unprecedented win.
The morning talk show, with a group of hosts led by EGOT winner Whoopi Goldberg, has become a destination for viewers that span across the political spectrum. In addition to Goldberg, co-hosts include comedian Joy Behar, legal expert Sunny Hostin, CNN contributor Ana Navarro, Midwest moderate Sara Haines and ex-Trump spokesperson Alyssa Farah Griffin, all of whom weighed in on the election.
"The View" co-hosts — including Republican Alyssa Farah Griffin, who said she would vote for Harris — expressed sadness, disappointment and hope in the wake of the election results.
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Griffin said Trump's win wasn't "the outcome I wanted," but said that the people who voted for him are still "good, decent people who are patriots and love this country."
She then called for people to "bring down the temperature, the name-calling, the demonizing," and to work to understand each other.
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"I always thought he could win," she said. "I didn't expect it to be this resounding. And I think there are some lessons from it. I think we forget about rural America, I think the working class feels left behind ... He spoke to them. We might not have liked his words, but they turned out for him."
Legal mind Sunny Hostin shared her fears about the working class, the future of Social Security, health care for the elderly, "mass deportations" and "internment camps," telling her fellow panelists she was "profoundly disturbed" by the election results.
"I worry about my children's future, especially my daughter, who now has less rights than I had," Hostin said. "I remember my father telling me many, many years ago, that I was the first person in his family to enjoy full civil rights. And now I have less civil rights than I had when he told me that."
Hostin attributed Harris' loss to "a referendum of cultural resentment in this country."
Navarro, who was at the Harris campaign's headquarters in Washington when results came in, said she had "no regrets" over her support of Harris.
"I worked hard as hell to elect the first Black Asian woman president. History slipped through our fingers again," she said. "I worked hard as hell for Donald Trump not to be president. But today, unlike Donald Trump and his followers, I acknowledge that he won. I hope for the best for our country."
She told LGBTQ Americans, immigrants, elderly citizens and women that, "We will not stop fighting."
Moderator mainstay Goldberg, who some time ago vowed never to speak Trump's name, kept her promise alive.
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"(Harris) did this in two months. Everybody can always say she should have done this, she should have done this. She was everywhere, she talked to everybody and people didn't come out," she said. "I don't know why and it doesn't even matter. He's now going to be president. And I'm still not going to say his name."
"The View" airs at 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. CT. The daytime talk show only airs live in limited time zones.
While popular with more liberal viewers, the show is also often ridiculed by conservatives as being too soft and too partisan. It's also an occasional subject for "Saturday Night Live" sketches.
Contributing: Bill Coodykoontz, The Arizona Republic