‘The View’ Fans Say ‘Privileged’ Hosts Got a Reality Check by Financial Expert in Tense on-Air Moment

The View was off to an uneasy start during the Thursday, February 26, broadcast.

As cohost Alyssa Farah Griffin remains on maternity leave, the panel — which consists of Whoopi Goldberg, Sara Haines, Joy Behar and Sunny Hostin — invited CNBC anchor and financial expert Sara Eisen to fill in.

At the very top of Thursday’s broadcast, Goldberg, 70, said she wanted to ask Eisen, 41, about “the market because it seems that the market doesn’t really pay attention to who is president. The market does what it does.”

Things quickly got tense when Eisen pointed out that, from her perspective, the market actually “likes” President Donald Trump amid the tariffs he has imposed since his return to the White House last year.

“Oh, interesting,” Hostin, 57, immediately chimed in.

“There’s a lot of upbeat sentiment from companies and from investors about policies that are helpful for growth — you know, deregulation,” Eisen said, to which Hostin asked: “Do you think the tariffs are helpful for growth?”

“The tariffs usually wouldn’t be helpful for growth, but they’re not as bad as everybody expected,” Eisen said.

Behar, 83, quickly noted, “It helps for rich people. It doesn’t help poor or middle-income people.”

“Fair,” Eisen agreed, “but when the tariffs were announced, everyone thought it would be massive inflation, and the market would fall apart, and the economy… and it hasn’t.”

“Not yet,” Behar interjected.

“Some companies have absorbed it,” Eisen said. “They’ve never been more profitable right now.”

Hostin compared the market to a K-curve, saying, “If you’re an investor, if you’re wealthy, then it’s great. If you’re middle class or under the middle class, then it’s not good at all.”

“What I would say to that: it helps to have exposure to stocks. More people should have exposure to stocks,” Eisen said, to which Hostin countered: “If you’re getting paid minimum wage, you don’t have exposure to stocks.”

Goldberg cut the tense moment off by changing topics, but after a clip of the exchange was shared on X (formerly Twitter), social media users offered their thoughts on the matter.

“The View Gets REALITY CHECKED by Financial Advisor,” one person wrote, while another said: “I can’t stand these privileged fake women. I didn’t even get to hear what Sara said as they continually spoke over her. They aren’t interested in the slightest in what she has to say.”

Some agreed with the longtime View panelists, but many pointed out how they didn’t offer Eisen a good opportunity to get her points across. “They don’t even give her a chance to explain herself, they talk over her,” said one X user.