<\/p>\n
The morning sun hadn\u2019t even finished warming the pavement outside ABC\u2019s Manhattan studios before Whoopi Goldberg decided to turn the heat up to a lunar level.<\/p>\n
A kind of sharp tension fills The View<\/em> set when the moderators move from standard political bickering to the kind of \u201cwhat if\u201d scenarios that make social media managers sweat, and Thursday\u2019s episode delivered that in spades.<\/p>\n It started with a celebration\u2026 a genuine, awe-filled look at the return of NASA\u2019s Artemis II crew, but it quickly spiraled into a debate about who actually belongs in the stars. Watching Whoopi lean back in her chair, that familiar glint of mischief in her eyes, you knew she wasn\u2019t just going to talk about the physics of splashdown.<\/p>\n She was looking at the footage of Donald Trump meeting those astronauts, hearing his bravado about his own space-faring potential, and preparing a verbal launchpad of her own that would leave the president stranded 238,900 miles away from the nearest polling station.<\/p>\n The catalyst for this celestial showdown was a recent White House event in which the 79-year-old Trump hosted the four history-making astronauts<\/a> who had recently soared over the far side of the moon.<\/p>\n During the 22-minute reception, Trump didn\u2019t just praise the crew; he seemed to audition for a seat on the next flight. He boasted about being \u201cphysically very good\u201d<\/a> and claimed he\u2019d have \u201cno trouble making it\u201d onto a mission, even asking NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman if a president is technically allowed to go up.<\/p>\n