“Are you his interpreter or are
you his Vice President?  Come on!” 
– Joy Behar to JD Vance after he tried to explain
El Presidente’s comment, “I love the inflation”.

They say no television show sells more books than The View.  JD Vance may be many things, but he’s not stupid.  So into the lion’s den he went – and came out a winner.  You’ll find no bigger fan of The View than moi, but sometimes less is more.  A good host gets out a specific question, lets the guest answer, and perhaps asks a follow-up.  What happened here is there were simply too many people at the table.  Multiple hosts chimed in on the same question, so all Vance had to do was sit back with a bemused smirk on his face and then pivot.  Alyssa wanted to ask about the Iran deal.  Didn’t get to it.  Will El Presidente ever leave office?  Who knows?  Is Vance planning to run in 2028?  Never asked.  I hate to agree with someone who gives Ivanka and the Bush twins a run for their money in the Republican nepo-baby sweepstakes, but Princess McCain probably summed it up best: “After all these years, they still get basic facts wrong, flub easy questions and can’t get through a segment without yelling at each other.  Vance handled it all very well.”

Then JD made this confession to FOX News: “Honestly, I expected them to be absolutely vicious, and they were only a little bit vicious.  It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.”  He added that during a commercial break, Joy Behar said, “You know what?  You’re pretty good…for a Republican!”  Joy admitted she told him off camera that he should run for president because he has a “good vibe”.  She hastened to add that she wouldn’t vote for him.

Billy Porter dropped by CBS Mornings to promote his run in La Cage aux Folles, only to find himself being interviewed by Gayle King and another former View co-host.  Elisabeth Hasselbeck was filling in!  On the topic of La Cage, Lizzie said, “It’s funny, in that little tease you talked about not being a sports person.  I’m not really a drag person, but I’m a person person, so we get to be who we are, and I love that about our world, right?”  Billy laughed in that perplexed type of way.  You can see this curious exchange on BillyMasters.com.

Yet another View alum is returning to the airwaves.  As you know, Jimmy Kimmel often has friends fill in during his vacations.  One in particular will surely make headlines.  “As a special treat for our commander-in-chief, I asked one of his all-time favorites, Rosie O’Donnell, to be here to keep the hits coming.  So, you’re welcome.  And all I ask in return, Mr. President, is that you don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.”  Rosie is scheduled to host the week of August 17^th.  I’m sure El Presidente will be tuning in!  Before that, Rosie will be performing her latest one-woman show, Common Knowledge, at the Daryl Roth Theatre off-Broadway July 22 – August 8.  It previously had sold-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as well as Dublin, Sydney, Melbourne, and Glasgow.