Donald Trump Jr. spars with ‘The View’ hosts, from blackface to rape

Tempers were short, the volume was loud and the crosstalk relentless when Donald Trump Jr. and girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle appeared on Thursday’s episode of ABC’s “The View.”

Dubbed “The Political View,” the marathon argument session devolved from the political topics at hand into the president’s son accusing cohosts Joy Behar of wearing blackface and Whoopi Goldberg of defending convicted rapist Roman Polanski.

It happened a little more than halfway through the hectic episode (around the 5:20 mark in the video below) when Meghan McCain and Behar tried to get their guests to address how President Trump had been “lowering the discourse.” Behar cited Trump’s controversial characterizations of some Mexicans as rapists, attacking the handicapped and the coarse language he used on the infamous “Access Hollywood” tapes.

And Trump Jr. did not shy away from bringing his outspoken Twitter persona out to fight.

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“We’ve all done things that we regret,” Trump Jr. said. “I mean, if we’re talking about bringing the discourse down: Joy, you’ve worn blackface. Whoopi, you’ve said that Roman Polanski [didn’t commit] ‘rape-rape’ when he raped a child. So, let’s talk about serious things.”

Behar promptly denied the blackface allegation, and Goldberg jumped to her defense. (Behar apparently dressed as an African queen when she was 29 and darkened her skin with makeup.)

“Being black, I recognize blackface. This I can say: I know it when I see it,” Goldberg said, incensed. “Now that you’ve broken this piece of ice, because I guess this is the fight you wanted, are you questioning my character? I didn’t question anybody, I simply said that when you’re taking about your father taking more heat than anyone else [as president], that is not so.”

After the episode, Trump Jr. continued his offensive strategy, tweeting a Telegraph story and a “View” segment that revisited both women’s respective controversies.

McCain, who is often vilified on the show for her conservative views, also got in her own barbs given Trump’s fraught relationship with her father, the late Sen. John McCain. She later took a moment to tell her cohosts that she loves appearing on the show with them every day.

There to tout his new book, “Triggered,” the businessman fielded inquiries about hypocrisy, nepotism and character in politics as well as the questionable things his father has said and done. Guilfoyle, a former prosecutor and Fox News personality, dutifully sat by her man as the cohosts grilled their guests and they dished it back.

They called Trump Jr. a Russian puppet, and he insisted he was just a private citizen and campaign surrogate. Guilfoyle kept calling for “reciprocal civility” but frequently jumped into asides and cut off the panelists.

Goldberg constantly asked everyone to stop yelling and feverishly rang a bell she was issued to stop the panelists from talking over one another: “The cross-talking is making everyone crazy. When I hit the bell, it’s to keep y’all from cross-talking. Please stop,” she scolded.

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At another point, she literally clapped back at the boisterous audience, shushing them by addressing them as “children” and asked for the jokes and sarcasm to stop. Trump Jr. then pushed against politically correct culture, especially in comedy.

“I’m on the side of free speech and comedy. Comedy rules,” Behar said, then turned to Trump Jr. and added: “Let the comedians do their thing. You’re not a comedian.”