The hosts of The View agreed Tuesday that Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner needs to withdraw from the race, and should have done so before new sexual assault allegations were published.
Platner “should have been thrown out with the Nazi tattoo and what have you. We all agree on that,” co-host Joy Behar said on The View Tuesday.
Platner faces multiple sexual assault allegations and criticism over a Totenkopf tattoo he received during his military service.
Platner claimed he had no idea that his tattoo, which was a Totenkopf, was a Nazi symbol.
In a New York Times report, one woman who dated Platner said he had to have known what it meant, because he was the one who taught her the word for it when they were dating.
She said he referred to it as “my Totenkopf.”
The woman also detailed sexual assault allegations against him.
On Monday, a report from Politico revealed that another ex-girlfriend came forward, saying Platner sexually assaulted her while severely intoxicated.
“The Democrats really needed to step up a little bit before this happened, thinking maybe Platner would be tainted and would have to get thrown out,” Behar said.
Monday’s Politico report resulted in a campaign video posted on X by Platner, saying he would take time to “reflect” on his campaign’s “best path forward.”
“It is a disgusting time in politics where we decide what we’re willing to morally accept based on the jersey you’re wearing, and if you were one of those people that were willing to plug your nose, you’re the problem,” co-host Sara Haines said.
Co-host Sunny Hostin fired back, “Well then, I’m the problem, because I was one of those people, and I said it, if I had lived in Maine, I would have plugged my nose, and I would have voted for him anyway,” and went on to criticize the Republican Party for assuming the “moral high ground” in this.
Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin argued that anyone leading in politics should not have been accused of sexual abuse.
Hostin later said Platner should step down.
“We have to have a baseline standard we can all agree on that doesn’t wear a jersey that says, ‘You have to be a certain type of human to lead us,’ and we cannot keep voting for that,” Haines said.
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Co-host Whoopi Goldberg argued that making criteria like that is great, “but unfortunately, we are stuck in the middle of a poop hole. And poop’s falling upwards, it’s falling sideways.”
“Do your homework. The vetting process seems to have been thrown to the wasteland,” Goldberg said.
“You need to care who you’re bringing in.”
The discussion comes as ABC is separately fighting the Federal Communications Commission over The View’s status as a “bona fide news interview program” and its exemption from equal opportunity requirements.
Those requirements mean that if a broadcast station gives airtime to one legally qualified political candidate, it generally must provide equal opportunities to competing candidates who request it.
The current dispute arose after The View interviewed Democratic Texas Senate nominee James Talarico.
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ABC is arguing that, as a news interview program, it can choose whom it wants to interview and can be allowed to bypass the FCC’s rule. ABC also pointed out that The View received an exemption in 2002, and it was never overturned, according to CBS.
ABC also opened a petition, saying, “‘The View’ has welcomed your favorite guests and covered the issues you care about for nearly 30 years. Now, the FCC wants to control who is allowed on the show.”