Whoopi Goldberg was not going to allow any spin from Vice President JD Vance during his first-ever appearance on The View.
The vice president sat for an interview on the show he once called “propaganda” for Democrats to promote his new book, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith. The hosts took the opportunity to ask their burning questions, which led to a heated exchange in which Goldberg told him, “Don’t start anything with me.”
The exchange came after Goldberg asked him about the Trump administration’s removal of several monuments to Black American history across the country. “When you see things—them doing all kinds of removal of information of black heroes—how does that sit with you?” she asked.
“What exactly are you talking about?” Vance replied, drawing loud groans from the studio audience, several of whom were seen refusing to applaud the vice president as he entered the studio for the interview.
Vance, who had smoothly avoided an altercation throughout the interview, received his first audible rejection in that moment, which he attempted to smooth over. “I want to know,” he said.
Goldberg and co-host Sunny Hostin summarized the administration’s efforts, which stem from Trump’s March 2025 executive order to “restore truth and sanity to American history” and crack down on “improper partisan ideology.”
The resulting efforts include the removal of quotes about slavery, immigrants, and war from the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston, the removal of slavery exhibits at Philadelphia’s Independence Mall, and the removal of over 30 signs documenting the hostility formerly enslaved people faced from white people at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia. The moves were slapped down by a judge last week, and the federal government now has 21 days to restore and reinstall the removed monuments.
“In a lot of the museums—there’s so many—they are taking down the actual history that happened in this country. Slavery happened. All kinds of stuff happened,” Goldberg told Vance on Tuesday. “It seems that it has been very easy for this administration to remove that and also to denigrate Black folks who have worked their behinds off to get this American dream.”
“You say we are anti-minority,” Vance began in response, which prompted Goldberg to cut him off.
“I didn’t say that. I asked. Don’t start anything with me,” she told him, which drew applause from the studio audience, “Don’t get me in trouble.”
Vance replied, “I misinterpreted your question. Let me answer your question. What I’m saying, I think—look at Washington, D.C., one of the most democratic and one of the Blackest, by share of population, Blackest cities, has seen a radical decrease in violent crime, sexual assault, and murders. We have tried to take the crime issue seriously in part because we believe everybody, whether you are Black or white or rich or poor, deserves to live in a safe neighborhood.”
The answer stumped Goldberg, who asked, “Where does the crime step in? This is not about crime.”
Added Hostin, “Black history has been erased!”
“That is not right,” Vance insisted. “What you are saying is, we have to do more on the economy.”
The economy, like crime, was not the question’s subject, but former Trump aide Alyssa Farah Griffin tried to help Vance segway the discussion anyway. “We have some very important news to get to,” she told her co-hosts.
Ana Navarro was insistent on not letting him off the hook on the question, however. Navarro continued peppering Vance until Goldberg was screaming at her that it was time for a commercial break.
“I have to go to break. Ana, please!” Goldberg yelled as Navarro kept talking until the cutaway music played. “Don’t do that.”
