The View pushes the legal envelope in the show's feud with Donald Trump.
It's going to get burned after playing with fire.
And Joy Behar got some bad news after The View crossed this red line with Trump.
The FCC Just Put ABC on Notice
The Federal Communications Commission – under Trump-appointed Chairman Brendan Carr – has officially opened enforcement proceedings against The View.
The trigger was a February appearance by Texas Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico.
Carr confirmed the investigation Wednesday night on Fox News with Laura Ingraham, and he didn't mince words.
"Disney has a program called The View," Carr said. "And they've been asserting the position that The View is what is known as 'bona fide news' in the statute. If you are bona fide news, you don't have to give candidates equal air time.
“But Disney and The View have not established that that program is, in fact, bona fide news. We've started enforcement proceedings, taking a look at that."
Disney just walked into a wall it spent thirty years pretending wasn't there.
What the Equal Time Rule Actually Says
Here's the law Joy Behar apparently never bothered to read.
The equal time rule – written into the Communications Act of 1934 – requires broadcast stations to give competing political candidates the same access to their airwaves.
The law carves out one exemption: programs that qualify as "bona fide news" don't have to comply.
For decades, shows like The View hid behind that exemption – claiming they were news programs whenever it was convenient and entertainment programs whenever it wasn't.
The FCC under Carr issued a formal warning in January that the arrangement was finished.
The agency told ABC, CBS, and NBC in writing that daytime and late-night talk shows should stop assuming they automatically qualify as bona fide news – because the FCC had never been presented with evidence that any of them do.
The View invited Talarico on anyway, daring the FCC to act.
The FCC acted.
"News" That Only Reports One Side
Here's the part that should make every conservative laugh out loud.
The View is technically part of ABC News.
ABC News.
The same show where Joy Behar has spent years calling Trump voters a cult, predicting Trump's imprisonment, and cheerleading every Democrat impeachment effort – that show is officially classified as a news division operation.
It's not a news show.
It's a Democrat Party propaganda hour with a coffee table and a studio audience.
The show exists for one reason: to pump radical leftist talking points into the living rooms of daytime television viewers, five days a week.
Calling The View a news program is like calling MSNBC's primetime lineup a science documentary series.
Carr spelled out exactly why the "bona fide news" defense falls apart: "Disney and The View have not established that that program is, in fact, bona fide news."
They haven't established it because they can't.
This Has Been Coming for Months
This investigation didn't come out of nowhere.
Back in September, Carr publicly said it would be "worthwhile" to investigate whether The View qualifies as a real news show under federal law.
In January, the FCC put the broadcast networks on written notice that daytime and late-night talk shows were no longer getting a free pass.
The View – being The View – invited Talarico on anyway, becoming one of the first shows to test the new rules after the warning went out.
ABC bet the FCC was bluffing.
They were wrong.
What This Means for Joy and Her Friends
If ABC can't prove The View qualifies as bona fide news, every Texas Senate candidate is entitled to equal airtime – including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Picture Joy Behar sitting across from Ken Paxton for a friendly chat because federal law required it.
CBS walked into the same trap this week when lawyers shut down Stephen Colbert's Talarico interview – then CBS and Colbert publicly contradicted each other about what actually happened.
ABC and CBS spent years operating under Obama and Biden as though broadcast regulations didn't apply to them.
They're finding out they do.
Carr put it plainly to Ingraham: "The days that these legacy media broadcasters get to decide what we can say, what we can think, who we can vote for are over."
For thirty years, The View played by different rules than everyone else.
Trump just changed that.
Sources:
- Brendan Carr interview, "The Ingraham Angle," Fox News, February 18, 2026.
- Willa Pope Robbins, "Trump FCC Chair Confirms He's Started 'Enforcement Proceedings' Against The View," Mediaite, February 18, 2026.
- "FCC Launching Probe into ABC's 'The View' Amid Crackdown on Equal Time for Candidates," Fox News, February 7, 2026.
- Warner Todd Huston, "FCC Opens 'Enforcement Action' Against ABC's 'The View' Over Democrat James Talarico Interview," Breitbart, February 18, 2026.
- "FCC Investigating If ABC's 'The View' Violated Equal Time Rules for Political Candidates," Reuters/The Spokesman-Review, February 7, 2026.
- "What To Know About The FCC Rule At The Center Of Trump Administration Efforts To Crack Down On Late-Night Hosts," Deadline, February 17, 2026.
