Whoopi Goldberg has a wild theory that Donald Trump is controlling the news cycle, and some agree.
“The View” co-host is convinced that the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran is Trump’s “nutty as hell” attempt to invoke hysteria, confusion, and rage, making it an overwhelming task to keep up with headlines regarding other current events.
She previously described him as a “lame duck president” looking to turn the U.S. into a warped version of “The Apprentice, and didn’t take it lightly when producers asked her to walk back an autopen joke about Trump on air. Now, she’s accusing Trump of causing distractions and doing everything to bury what he doesn’t want the public to know.
Trump’s need for non-stop attention and praise reached a new level when he initiated airstrikes in the Middle East earlier this month. The hotly debated topic of military conflict is tagged as his latest big win, further asserting his administration’s delusions of unprecedented political dominance.
Goldberg, though, doesn’t quite view the subsequent surge in gas prices or the increasing death toll of servicemen and women as a welcome distraction — for her, those updates are a reminder of Trump’s sloppy ability to hijack the spotlight.
“Every day it’s something new,” she told her co-host during a March 10 taping of the daytime talk show.
“Why haven’t we been talking about Savannah Guthrie and what’s going on there?” Goldberg asked. “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy Guthrie, vanished from her Arizona home on Feb. 1. The missing persons case is being investigated as an abduction, which likely resulted in the 84-year-old’s death weeks ago.
DOOCY: What do you think happened to Nancy Guthrie?
TRUMP: Boy it’s so crazy. It’s so bad. I didn’t like when they were talking about they’re going after the pacemaker. If in fact they could do it that way, the person would say ‘Well I’m not gonna let that happen,’ right? I… pic.twitter.com/lSZX6txYCR
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 19, 2026
Trump signaled he was tired of Nancy being the big story 18 days into recovery efforts. “Boy, it’s so crazy. It’s so bad,” he told reporters when asked about Nancy, adding, “We have to start reporting on other subjects also and see what happens. It’s a very sad situation.”
“OK then, back to the Epstein files,” a critic wrote online.
Goldberg shares the same feelings, noting, “Why have we not been talking about the Epstein files? Because that’s still there.” A commenter somewhat agreed, , “I don’t agree with the Guthrie case but I do think she’s right about the epstein files. I think trump would willingly start a war to distract us.”
Trump tried to downplay his friendship with the convicted offender, but their years-long relationship spilled out in files released by the Department of Justice. The 79-year-old’s name appears thousands of times in the documents, some of them insinuating that he was aware of Epstein’s sexual trafficking enterprise and that he had intimate interactions with victims.
One MAGA supporter commented, “So now Whoopie wants the focus back on the Guthrie ‘kidnapping’ to take the heat off of Whoopie being in the Epstein Files. Got it.”
Goldberg’s name also appeared in email correspondence between Epstein and someone in her inner circle. The individual asked Epstein if Goldberg could use his private plane to attend a charity event.
🔥🚨DEVELOPING: This footage showing how the ladies on The View changed their stance after Whoopi Goldberg name was dropped in the Epstein files. pic.twitter.com/yDdFdDzQNg
— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) February 20, 2026
The EGOT addressed the matter on “The View,” explaining that she never boarded the aircraft and did not have any interactions with the well-connected criminal. A third person weighing in on her distraction theory remarked, “What??? Whoopi has finally gone over the edge. Someone needs to do an intervention here and get her some help.”
The “Ghost” actress also believes the war is part of the Trump regime’s scheme to subdue interest in those findings, too. “This is meant to get us so worked up that we are unable to see anything else,” she said, undercutting the president’s claim that the airstrikes were a preventative measure to stop Iran from attacking the U.S.
Trump has since claimed that the war is “very complete,” boasting that Iran’s military forces are defeated and its country left without a leader, assertions clearly belied by the facts on the ground.
