‘The View’ Gets Heated During Crime Debate: “I Don’t Feel Safe in New York”

Hot Topics were extra fiery on this morning’s episode of The View as the panel launched into a contentious discussion about rising crime rates in the country, specifically centered around the ongoing race for New York governor. During a chat about candidate Lee Zeldin, the co-hosts debated how dangerous our country really is and challenged Alyssa Farah Griffin, who admitted she feels unsafe after moving to New York City.

It all kicked off with footage from a debate between Zeldin and Gov. Kathy Hochul, during which he accused her of not focusing on everyday crimes happening on the streets and subways. After hearing his comments in the clip, Whoopi Goldberg asked, “What is your plan, Lee Zeldin?”

Griffin, who is a conservative like Zeldin, jumped in to defend him, saying, “In the last few months, Lee Zeldin was nearly stabbed onstage while campaigning in New York … there was a shooting outside his house that came within 30 feet of his home while his daughters were in the house. He is very familiar with the crime that is going on.”

Goldberg pushed back, replying, “He is familiar with what just happened to him, ’cause that’s New York City right now.”

While Griffin was willing to admit “crime is a very complicated issue,” she told Goldberg her party had a plan to solve it: “What republicans are running on is more grants to police funding, more grants for detectives, and that we need to look into why rape kits go unprocessed for so long. So we’re putting more funding toward that.”

After hearing the plan, Sunny Hostin objected, telling Griffin, “I think the plan is fear mongering. I really do.”

Despite Griffin’s insistence her party’s plan was a “response to democrats saying, ‘defund the police,'” Hostin wasn’t having it, and fought back with some cold, hard stats.

“New York is one of the safest cities in the country,” she told Griffin. “It has a $5 billion budget for the police.”

But Griffin said she doesn’t feel protected despite the monstrous budget, asking, “Do you feel that, though? I don’t feel safe in New York. I live in the city. I don’t feel safe.”

Joy Behar, who had stayed quiet during the debate up until then, pointed to the much more dangerous eras in the city’s past, telling her co-host, “Alyssa, you’re very young. You are. You’re 32 years old, was it? You know, I’ve been around and there were worse crime rates in the ’80s and the ’70s. I was afraid to leave my house at some points.”

Griffin said she agreed with Behar’s point, but added, “We shouldn’t settle for that,” but Behar refused to be misunderstood, telling her, “No, I’m not settling for it, but don’t exaggerate the situation.” 

The View airs weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.