Sunny Hostin on Thursday echoed sentiments made by former Vice President Joe Biden this week by questioning why no one has taken President Donald Trump "out back and kicked his little butt."
Hostin and her fellow co-hosts on ABC's "The View" were discussing comments Biden made at an event in Florida on Tuesday. Speaking at an anti-sexual assault rally at the Universiy of Miami, Biden, who is considered a potential frontrunner to challenge Trump in 2020, brought up the infamous comments the president was caught on tape making to an "Access Hollywood" correspondent in 2005. Biden said he would have "beat the hell" out of the president if they were still in high school.
"If we were in high school, I'd take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him," Biden said at the rally.
Biden went a step further, denouncing the president's explanation that the comments were taken out of context and were made in the nature of the salty humor one could expect to find in a locker room.
"I've been in a lot of locker rooms my whole life," Biden said. "I'm a pretty damn good athlete. Any guy who talked that way was usually the fattest, ugliest S.O.B. in the room."
Hostin implied she found Biden's comments admirable, even going as far as to say they were "chivalrous."
"There was something chivalrous about it," Hostin said. "I thought you know ... there was something about that because he was speaking at an event where he was encouraging men to stick up for women, not just be bystanders."
"That's an old-school thing," Joy Behar added.
Whoopi Goldberg suggested Biden and Trump could sit down with First Lady Melania Trump to discuss bullying, a tongue-in-cheek reference to a campaign the first lady recently launched to tackle cyber-bullying.
"Trump is such a bully," Hostin said. "I hate to say this, why hasn't anyone taken him out back and kicked his little butt?"
"We shouldn't be advocating for violence," Meghan McCain responded.
"Why doesn't anyone just stand up to him?" Hostin asked.
McCain expressed her frustration with the entire topic, noting that Trump was still the leader of the free world. McCain also stated she hoped the country and "The View" would focus on more pressing issues.
"He's the President of the United States, you want someone to take him out back and beat the crap out of him?" McCain asked. "That's not reality. Let's talk about the debt. I can't [do that] with all of this."
"Look, I'm not advocating beating up the president," Hostin said. "But why doesn't anybody just ... stand up to him?"
Goldberg joking suggested that Hostin would be receiving scrutiny from the Secret Service for her suggestions that the president's actions warranted harm. Goldberg's joke resulted in an attempt by Behar to have Hostin clarify her comments.
"She didn't mean it. Say it," Behar said while prodding Hostin with her hand to respond.
"I mean, I wish someone would stand up to him," Hostin said.
"We're trying to help you. Stop," Goldberg said, putting an end to the debate.
The discussion came hours after Trump publicly responded on Twitter to Biden's threats. In a tweet Thursday morning, the president chastised Biden, saying the latter was "both mentally and physically" weak and was in no position to "threaten people."
Crazy Joe Biden is trying to act like a tough guy. Actually, he is weak, both mentally and physically, and yet he threatens me, for the second time, with physical assault. He doesn’t know me, but he would go down fast and hard, crying all the way. Don’t threaten people Joe!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 22, 2018
UPDATE: 4:13 P.M.: Later in the show, Hostin said she wanted to clarify she was not advocating violence against Trump.
.@sunny had to clarify her earlier comments on @TheView that she was not advocating violence against @realDonaldTrump. pic.twitter.com/wUztfqOYGv
— Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) March 22, 2018