Joy Behar revealed that she encouraged Vice President JD Vance to make a run for the White House someday — saying she doesn’t believe the Republican firebrand is inherently a bad person despite their sharp political differences.
The longtime “View” co-host made the surprising admission during a conversation on the show’s companion podcast, “Behind the Table,” one day after Vance appeared on the ABC daytime talk show.
The comments were notable coming from Behar, one of television’s most outspoken liberal personalities and a frequent critic of President Trump and the Republican Party.
Behar has repeatedly described herself as a liberal and has said she has “never voted for Republican in my life.”
“I’m getting a note here. You told him during the break that he should run for president because he had a good vibe,” executive producer Brian Teta said to Behar.
“For a Republican,” Behar told Teta when asked about his “good vibe.”
The comedian and television personality, who stressed that she is not a Republican, said she has no intention of backing Vance politically, arguing that Democrats are more compassionate than Republicans on national issues.
“I don’t mind a Republican on the city level because it needs a little discipline, but on the national level, I want somebody with a good heart,” Behar said, adding that she voted for former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Bloomberg ran for mayor as a Republican but later registered an independent. He then switched to the Democrats in order to mount what would be an unsuccessful bid for the party’s presidential nomination.
Behar insisted that her personal impression of Vance differed from her view of the administration he serves.
“Truthfully, as I said to you at the beginning of this conversation, I don’t think that he’s a bad guy,” she said.
“So if he runs against, say, Gavin Newsom, that’ll be an interesting debate to see those two because they’re both intelligent.”
The remarks came after Vance’s appearance Tuesday on “The View,” where he sparred with the panel over President Trump, the economy and other issues.
Behar has long been among Trump’s most vocal daytime-TV critics, frequently clashing with supporters of the president and warning about the direction of national politics under his leadership.
Despite the tense exchanges on air, Behar said afterward that she found Vance personable behind the scenes.
“I thought he was, I have to say, very genial,” she said on the podcast.
“He came on in good faith.”
Behar went even further, suggesting that Vance’s current political persona may be driven by his alliance with Trump and his own presidential ambitions.
“My theory about JD Vance [is] that he’s running for president — totally running for president,” she said.
Behar argued that before becoming Trump’s vice president, Vance was “much more open-minded” and suggested he had changed after entering Trump’s orbit.
“My point is that I think if he were president, he would go back to being more a kinder person,” she said.
“Trump is the one who’s not kind.”
Even while offering the unusually favorable assessment, Behar made clear there were limits to her admiration.
She blasted Vance for previously suggesting that media coverage contributed to his past criticism of Trump, including comments in which he compared the future president to “America’s Hitler.”
“Don’t give me that,” Behar said.
“That’s where I draw the line on the guy.”
“Don’t blame me for the fact that you went to Yale Law School. You can’t read? You can’t watch something and discern what’s going on?”
“He definitely is good at spinning.”
Behar also disclosed a backstage tidbit from Vance’s visit, claiming he repeatedly said he was more anxious about appearing before the famously combative “View” panel than he was during last year’s vice presidential debate.
“One thing he said backstage — and I think he said it a couple times today — was that he was more nervous coming on ‘The View’ than he was for the vice presidential debate,” Behar said.
Vance himself referenced his interactions with Behar during the broadcast.
“Joy said when we were off air that I’m fine, which I think is about the best endorsement I’m gonna get out of Joy Behar,” he joked.
“For a Republican,” Behar quickly replied.
“Graded on a curve here at ‘The View,'” Vance shot back.
While she reiterated that she has “never voted for a Republican in my life,” Behar nevertheless predicted that Vance’s political future is far from over.
“He’ll come back,” she said on the podcast.
“He wants to run for president. Believe me, he’ll be back.”
Vance, for his part, later said he was pleasantly surprised by how he was treated by the panel.
“I expected them to be absolutely vicious, and they were only a little bit vicious. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be,” Vance said Tuesday night during an appearance on Fox News’ “Gutfeld!”
The vice president singled out Behar in particular, recalling that she complimented him during a commercial break.
“Joy Behar even said during the break, not joking, she said, ‘You know what? You’re, like, pretty good for a Republican,'” Vance said.
“And I was like, ‘Whoa.’ That is a way better compliment than I expected from Joy Behar.”
Vance joked that some of his expectations were upended during the appearance.
“I thought that Sunny, the woman to my left, was going to call me a racist. In reality, it was Whoopi, the woman to my right, who called me a racist. So expectations were defied,” he quipped.
