JD Vance has shared his reaction to appearing on The View, admitting the experience was not as combative as he had prepared for.
The vice president appeared on the ABC daytime show on June 16, seated between Joy Behar and Ana Navarro, as the discussion turned to Donald Trump’s agenda, Vance’s past remarks about women without children, Jeffrey Epstein, immigration, the economy, and other political flashpoints.
The interview was a notable booking for the long-running show: Vance was the third sitting vice president to appear on The View and the first sitting Republican vice president to do so. ABC had said he would be joined in studio by all six co-hosts to discuss his new memoir, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, along with the administration’s priorities and the latest headlines.
Afterward, Vance said he had gone into the interview expecting a much rougher exchange from the panel.
“I thought that Sunny, the woman to my left, was going to call me a racist. In reality, it was Whoopi, the woman to my right, who called me a racist. So expectations were defied,” Vance joked, per Fox News, referencing Whoopi Goldberg’s comments.
During the segment, Goldberg accused the Trump administration of stripping elements of Black history from museum spaces, a claim Vance pushed back on. AP reported that the vice president was pressed on the Epstein case, the economy, immigration and other issues, and that he joked at the top of the hour, “This is a show of MAGA Republicans, right? That’s what my media team told me.”
Even so, he later said the tone of the interview fell short of the hostility he had braced for.
“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,” Vance said on Gutfeld! on Tuesday.
He also said Behar offered an unexpected remark during a break in filming.
“Joy Behar even said during the break, not joking, she said, ‘You know what? You’re, like, pretty good for a Republican.’ And I was like, ‘Whoa.’ That is a way better compliment than I expected from Joy Behar,” he revealed.
Before the appearance, Vance had already said he hoped to have a genuine exchange with the hosts, despite anticipating ideological differences.
“It may be the optimist in me, but I just fundamentally think that most people — not everybody, but most people — even if I disagree with them, you ought to try to have a conversation with them,” Vance told Fox News Digital on Monday.
He added that he was willing to engage, though he was not entirely confident the feeling would be mutual.
“We’re going to go and try to have a good conversation. I hope they meet me halfway. I’m a little skeptical, but we’ll see,” he added.
The interview arrived alongside the release of Vance’s new memoir, which focuses on his journey back to the Catholic faith and his personal and political evolution.
His book, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, was published the same day he appeared on The View.
The memoir is said to focus on his Catholic faith as well as his political outlook, both of which were highlighted during promotion for the show. Vance has described the book as much less political than many might expect.
Online reaction to the episode was divided, with some viewers surprised by his appearance and others sharply critical of it.
One person wrote: “I cant believe he actually went on there.”
Another said: “Yessssss the view This is amazing and please keep up having guests like JD.”
However, one user wrote: “Painful to watch.”