Joy Behar’s stunning claim that Trump was the first president to criticize predecessors shows just how dangerously selective liberal memory can be, especially when facts are hiding in plain sight.
At a Glance
- Joy Behar falsely claimed on “The View” that Trump was the first sitting president in her lifetime to criticize his predecessor
- Behar conveniently forgot that Barack Obama repeatedly blamed George W. Bush for economic problems throughout his presidency
- Biden has similarly blamed Trump for inflation and unemployment despite these issues emerging during COVID lockdowns
- Sara Haines suggested Republicans are united by their opposition to the Biden administration’s policies
- Behar’s selective memory exposes the double standard in how media figures treat Republican vs. Democratic presidents
The View From Alternate Reality
In what can only be described as one of the most glaring examples of historical amnesia ever broadcast on daytime television, Joy Behar made the astonishing claim on Thursday’s episode of “The View” that Donald Trump broke new ground as the first sitting president to criticize his predecessor. With absolute conviction that would make George Orwell’s Ministry of Truth proud, Behar declared to millions of viewers a “fact” that is demonstrably, embarrassingly false to anyone who’s been conscious for the past decade and a half.
This moment of pure fiction would be laughable if it weren’t so dangerous. Behar, born in 1942, has lived through 14 presidential administrations and somehow managed to miss Barack Obama’s years-long campaign of blaming George W. Bush for everything from the recession to foreign policy disasters. The selective memory on display is nothing short of Olympic-level mental gymnastics, deserving both a perfect score and immediate disqualification for violating the laws of reality.
Obama’s Blame Game: The Inconvenient Truth
Apparently, Joy Behar was in a coma during the Obama years when the 44th president made an art form out of blaming his predecessor. Obama repeatedly laid responsibility for the recession at Bush’s feet, a tactic that became so common it was practically a punctuation mark in his speeches. Even years into his presidency, when most leaders would have taken ownership of the economy, Obama continued pointing fingers backward in time.
Obama didn’t stop at economics. He routinely blamed Bush for everything from the situation in Iran to healthcare failures. But somehow, in the alternative universe where Joy Behar resides, none of this ever happened. The selective amnesia is particularly striking given that Behar was actively commenting on politics throughout the Obama administration. It’s not that she doesn’t know – it’s that acknowledging these facts would destroy her carefully constructed narrative about Trump’s unique villainy.
Joy Behar from The View attempts to take a jab at Trump, claiming she's NEVER seen a sitting president criticize his predecessor like this in her entire life.
Oh really? Let me refresh your memory Joy. 👇🏿 pic.twitter.com/8R8l1DKQ5F
— Brandon Tatum (@TheOfficerTatum) March 27, 2025
The Biden Blame Playbook
If Behar’s claim weren’t already thoroughly debunked by Obama’s eight years of predecessor-blaming, we need look no further than the current administration. President Biden has repeatedly used Trump as his economic scapegoat, blaming him for inflation and unemployment despite these issues exploding after his own COVID-era policies took effect. The blame game is apparently only problematic when Republicans do it – when Democrats engage in exactly the same behavior, it either doesn’t exist or is somehow justified.
Even more extraordinarily, Behar suggested that the Trump administration should move on from criticizing Biden because he’s “no longer in office.” This statement was made while Biden is literally the sitting president of the United States. In what timeline is Biden “no longer in office”? Perhaps in the same alternate dimension where Obama never criticized Bush and presidents before Trump never engaged in the standard political practice of blaming their predecessors.
The Real Political Playbook
What Behar’s comments reveal isn’t just factual inaccuracy – it’s the desperate attempt to rewrite history to fit a specific narrative. Sara Haines inadvertently touched on something real when she suggested Republicans are united by their opposition to Biden’s policies. This is how politics works on both sides – shared opposition to a perceived threat often creates stronger bonds than shared positive values. This was true of Democrats under Trump just as it’s true of Republicans under Biden.
The difference is the stunning hypocrisy of pretending one side invented a practice that has been standard political procedure for generations. Every president criticizes their predecessor to some degree – it’s practically written into the job description. What’s truly unprecedented isn’t Trump’s criticism of Obama, but the media’s willingness to fabricate historical falsehoods to paint Trump as uniquely divisive while memory-holing identical behavior from their favored politicians.
In the contest for most divorced from reality, Joy Behar continues to be a strong contender for the championship. The real question isn’t whether presidents criticize their predecessors – they all do – but whether our media figures will ever hold themselves to even the most basic standards of historical accuracy and intellectual consistency.
