Whoopi Goldberg took the tradition of Taco Tuesday to a whole new level on Tuesday’s (June 3) live episode of The View. The cohost and moderator introduced the first “Hot Topic” discussion of the day — whether Donald Trump‘s celebrity pardons will eventually include Sean Combs a.k.a. Diddy, if he is convicted in his ongoing federal trial — after he gave Todd and Julie Chrisley full pardons for their financial crime convictions.
“A lot of people were surprised last week when reality TV couple and MAGA loyalist Todd and Julie Chrisley received a full pardon for tax and bank fraud totaling more than $30 million, and President Taco D was asked if he’d consider another high-profile party,” she said.
“Taco D,” apparently, is her own adaptation of the “Taco” nickname that Trump was confronted with over his trade policies last week — it’s an acronym that stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out” — that Goldberg praised. She said then that it was even better than her usual nickname for him, “You Know Who.”
The show then revealed footage of Trump being asked about a Diddy pardon, to which he replied, “I haven’t been watching it too closely, although it’s certainly getting a lot of coverage. I haven’t seen him. I haven’t spoken to him in years. He used to really like me a lot. I think when I ran for politics, he sort of, that relationship busted up, from what I read… He didn’t tell me that. It’s not a popularity contest, so I don’t know. I would certainly look at the facts. If I think somebody was mistreated, whether they like me or don’t like me, it wouldn’t have any impact.”
Goldberg then invoked the new nickname again. She noted that Combs has denied the allegations against him — which include racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution — but asked, “If he is found guilty, is there any justification for Taco D to pardon him?”
“Taco D!” Joy Behar exclaimed with, well, joy.
The new nickname left Sara Haines stumbling for her words for a brief moment as she attempted to form her response. “I don’t even know who to call him anymore,” she laughed before arguing that a Diddy pardon would “reinforce the very thing he had a problem with, which was the two-tier system of justice. You’ve got people with power and money, and then you have people with no voice and the powerless. He has this power to pardon, and he could use it with great purpose. You could go after nonviolent drug offenders and pardon them. You could look at elderly and medically vulnerable people. You could also look at people who their sentence guidelines have changed. If we’re talking about waste in this government and all the cuts we’re making, why not start with the prisons.”
Sunny Hostin said she was “disgusted” by Trump’s pardons so far, saying, “He pardoned 1,500 people, and most of them were January 6 insurrectionists that assaulted police officers — violent, violent people.”
“The guy would pardon Jack the Ripper if he was alive,” Behar joked. “Tell him he’s alive.”
Hostin then continued, “Sean Combs, yes, he’s denied his guilt. But the bottom line is, I’ve been in that courtroom almost every single day, and we’re hearing about women who were physically abused, who were sexually abused, who were mentally and emotionally abused, and the thought that he would just consider it — and he himself has been found civilly liable for sexual abuse — so the fact that he would be so dismissive of these charges, it’s really something that is shameful.”
The subject then turned to why Trump has shown partiality to famous rappers in his pardons, and Alyssa Farah Griffin guessed it was, “He sees people who have fame and followings as people that, if he pardons them, they’re going to go out and spread the message. The Chrisleys, those are people that millions of people watched for whatever reason.”
“He should do a show called ‘Who’s Your Diddy?’” Behar said to gasps and shocked laughter.
After a beat of stunned silence, Griffin then offered, “I also think that Trump, in terms of pop culture, is stuck in like the ’90s to early 2000s. He’s frozen in time. So I’m pretty sure he thinks Diddy is still Puff Daddy and probably still dating J.Lo.”
The View, Weekdays, 11 a.m. ET, ABC