Co-Host of “The View” Joy Behar’s statement that East Palestine, Ohio voters have only themselves to blame for the toxic railway catastrophe that has decimated the little community shocked viewers of her live broadcast on February 23. After Behar’s statement, which also implied that the tragic February 3 disaster was caused by former President Donald Trump’s previous actions in the White House, the audience could hear audible gasps.
The co-hosts discussed the railway crash, which caused the contamination of 15,000 pounds of soil and at least 1.1 million gallons of water, and how politicians handled the tragic event. During Trump’s presidency, his administration discontinued monthly rail safety audits, withdrew an Obama-era plan to impose quicker brakes on trains hauling highly flammable commodities, and repealed a rule requiring freight trains to have at least two crew members.
Behar’s controversial remarks were made after a heated exchange in which Republicans criticized Pete Buttigieg, Biden’s transportation secretary, for his handling of the disaster. Behar made her comments after co-host Alyssa Farah-Griffin noted that Norfolk-Southern generously contributes to both parties and said that central Ohio is “Trump country,” mentioning that the GOP won the 2020 election by around 40 points over Biden.
The former president, who announced his run for the White House in 2024, visited the Ohio town on Wednesday, February 22, distributing “Trump Water” bottles and buying McDonald’s for locals and emergency personnel. He criticized President Biden for not visiting the site of the catastrophe while Behar asserted that the neighborhood trip was nothing more than a photo opportunity for Trump.
On Thursday, engineers on the deadly East Ohio hazardous train said they had made frantic attempts to stop it after learning that a wheel bearing was 254 degrees over normal temperature. As the train sped into East Palestine, Ohio, the crew tried to slow it down, but their attempts were unsuccessful, resulting in a deadly collision.
The February 3 incident caused the derailment of fifty railway cars, eleven of which were carrying toxic materials which were released into the air, soil and water. Residents afterward reported feeling sick and fearing for their health as well as seeing dead fish and other dead or sick animals.
