‘The View’ Hosts Suggest Trump Started A War To Distract From Epstein: ‘Very Wag-The-Dog Feeling’

Whoopi Goldberg and her cohosts on ABC’s “The View” suggested during Tuesday’s broadcast that President Donald Trump may have started a war with Iran to keep the American people distracted from the Epstein files and the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping case.

Goldberg raised the possibility first, saying it was “nutty as hell” that a major military conflict — involving a known bad actor and American interests and allies in the Middle East — was sucking up all the oxygen in the media space and arguing that it was an intentional play to redirect public focus.

WATCH:

Whoopi claims the conflict with Iran is a distraction from the search for Nancy Guthrie and the Epstein files:

GOLDBERG: Well, I mean, it’s just nutty as hell. It’s nutty as hell and you’re right, every day is something new. And it’s — you know, I was thinking about it… pic.twitter.com/Boyu2mYouH

— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) March 10, 2026

“I mean, it’s just nutty as hell. It’s nutty as hell and you’re right, every day is something new,” Goldberg began. “And it’s — you know, I was thinking about it yesterday, because I thought, well, okay, why haven’t we been talking about Savannah Guthrie and what’s going on there?”

“And her mother,” Sunny Hostin interjected.

“Why haven’t we not been — why have we not been talking about the Epstein files? Because that’s still there,” Goldberg continued. “This is meant to get us so worked up that we are unable to see anything else.”

The audience and the others around the table applauded and voiced their agreement.

“It’s a very wag-the-dog feeling. Very wag-the-dog feeling,” Hostin said, employing the slang term for use of a military action that is intended to divert public attention from a politically damaging issue.

The panel then pivoted to claim that the Trump administration viewed members of the military as “cannon fodder.”

Cohost Sara Haines said that anyone who waged war should keep the human cost in mind, and Goldberg immediately claimed that the Trump administration did not do that.

“They don’t have that feeling, because to them, we’re cannon fodder,” she claimed. “They don’t care, you know? It’s how — It’s why they — it’s how they also treat our vets. It tells you a lot. You’ve heard him talk about vets.”

President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and War Secretary Pete Hegseth were all on hand for the Dignified Transfer to receive the remains of the first six American service members killed during Operation Epic Fury. Vice President Vance, a Marine Corps veteran himself, attended the Dignified Transfer for the seventh. Trump referred to the ceremony as “the toughest thing I have to do as President.”