Since the departure of Meghan McCain, ‘The View’ has been struggling to find a replacement for her. Their search criteria may be a little too narrow.
They don’t want a never-Trumper who will just agree with all the other hosts, but they also don’t want a woman who could be described as a Trump supporter.
Tara Palmeri reports at Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: ‘The View’ struggles to find a RepublicanBefore taking off for the holidays, the four long-standing hosts of “The View” had a message for executive producer BRIAN TETA: We’re tired of the rotating cast of Republican guest hosts.When MEGHAN MCCAIN departed in August, Teta initially told the Wrap that he was “taking a little time” to find a replacement. Since then, ABC has tried out a variety of conservative fill-ins, including S.E. CUPP, ALYSSA FARAH, MORGAN ORTAGUS, CONDOLEEZZA RICE, CARLY FIORINA, and GRETCHEN CARLSON.Nearly six months in, the show has yet to settle on a permanent replacement. And now, the longtime co-hosts — JOY BEHAR, WHOOPI GOLDBERG and SUNNY HOSTIN — are upping the pressure to pick a successor, and voicing their displeasure at having to introduce new guest hosts week after week in a seemingly endless process that they find disruptive to the flow of the show.
The problem is that their search is too specific:
Sources close to the show said that the search has stalled as executives struggle to find a conservative cast-member who checks all the right boxes. They will not consider a Republican who is a denier of the 2020 election results, embraced the January 6 riots, or is seen as flirting too heavily with fringe conspiracy theories or the MAGA wing of the GOP. But at the same time, the host must have credibility with mainstream Republicans, many of whom still support DONALD TRUMP.
The report says the show wanted to recruit Kat Timpf, Greg Gutfeld’s libertarian sidekick of FOX News, but she wisely turned them down, which leads to an obvious question. Who would want this job?
Whoever gets the ‘conservative’ role on this show is going to end up being constantly insulted and demeaned by Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg.
If it was a decent gig, and if their search criteria weren’t so narrow, I might suggest Tammy Bruce or Monica Crowley.
The Politico report stirred quite a reaction on Twitter:
If you’re reading this, odds are that you don’t watch ‘The View’ and don’t care who takes this seat, but it does matter. Millions of people watch this show and whoever gets this job will be the only conservative many fans of the show ever hear from on political issues.
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