“The View” host Joy Behar claimed on Tuesday that President Donald Trump was only calling for the Treasury Department to stop minting pennies because he was “jealous” of America’s 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, whose face appears on the coins.
Behar and her cohosts on the ABC midday talk show were responding to Trump’s plan to stop minting pennies — which he explained when he made the announcement — and they determined that the only explanation that made any sense was that he did it to soothe his own ego.
“I mean it’s really — and he’s jealous of everybody. Now he’s getting rid of the penny, he’s even jealous of Lincoln,” Behar exclaimed. “He’s so small, so petty.”
“Small and petty, absolutely,” cohost Sunny Hostin agreed.
WATCH:
Flaunting her profound ignorance of how even Obama floated the idea, ABC News's Joy Behar claims Trump wants to ax the penny because he's "jealous of Lincoln" and "small and petty." "Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah," agrees former fed prosecutor Sunny Hostin.
In reality, the stated… pic.twitter.com/5lTHitXOle— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) February 11, 2025
Trump announced on Sunday that the Treasury Department would stop making pennies because the cost of minting them exceeded the face value of the coins.
“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies. Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations (sic) budget, even if it’s a penny at a time,” the president posted to his Truth Social platform.
Nickels may soon find themselves on the chopping block if Trump continues down that same path, as the cost to mint them also exceeds their face value of five cents. This could become an issue if having fewer pennies in circulation ultimately drives up the demand for nickels.
