Whoopi Goldberg to Chris Christie: Who In Your Family Are You Willing to ‘Sacrifice to Die?’

Friday on ABC’s “The View,” co-host Whoopi Goldberg clashed with former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) in an explosive debate over reopening the U.S. economy amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Goldberg asked, “You upset a lot of people last week by saying the country needs to reopen because people are going to die no matter what. You compared it to lives lost during World War II, calling it a sacrifice for the American way of life. I’m asking since you’re suggesting that I sacrifice, who are you sacrificing? Who are you willing to give up in your family?”

Christie shot back, “It’s a false choice, Whoopi. That’s what people who don’t understand what’s going on here say.”

Goldberg said, “Who are you willing to sacrifice to die, Chris? You’re saying people should be willing to sacrifice family to die. Who are you willing to give up?”

Christie said, “Whoopi, that’s not what I said. What I said was, lives are going to be lost inevitably in this, no matter what we do.”

Goldberg pressed. “So you didn’t say some Americans have to make the ultimate sacrifice? You did not say that?”

Christie said, “No. Listen, I said some Americans will make that sacrifice no matter what we do. Now we have to decide how we’re going to balance this. The balance is that there are people who are standing on food bank lines, people who are losing their homes, people who are losing their livelihood, which is leading to depression, which is leading to suicide, which is leading to addiction, which is leading to domestic violence. I saw all these things after Hurricane Sandy when people lost their homes and their livelihoods. These things happen. I said we have to balance. I also said businesses should only open at 50% capacity. People should be wearing masks. Temperatures need to be taken for people going into businesses. If we wait around for a vaccine before we open our country, we will lose hundreds of thousands of lives who are being destroyed by the epidemic’s cure as we’re doing it now. We have to balance the two. That’s what I was saying. All we’re hearing is that we have to remain shut-in. It’s destroying the economy and, as a result, people’s lives and their hope.”

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