Whoopi Goldberg says Trump’s Iran war distracts Americans from Nancy Guthrie case: ‘Nutty as hell’

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Whoopi Goldberg raised eyebrows on ‘The View’ this week after suggesting that President Donald Trump’s actions involving Iran could be distracting Americans from other major issues.

During Tuesday’s March 10 episode of the daytime talk show, the co-hosts discussed the ongoing situation with Iran and its impact on rising oil and gas prices.

In the middle of the conversation, Goldberg said she believed the attention around the conflict might be pulling focus away from other unresolved stories.

Whoopi Goldberg questions Trump’s Iran distraction

While speaking on the show, Goldberg questioned why other major stories were not receiving as much attention lately.

She pointed specifically to the ongoing interest in the Jeffrey Epstein files and the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. “It’s nutty as hell,” Goldberg said during the conversation. “And you're right, every day it's something new.”

She went on to explain that she had been thinking about how quickly public attention had shifted.

“And it's, you know, I was thinking about it yesterday, because I thought, ‘Well, OK, why haven't we been talking about Savannah Guthrie and what's going on there? Why haven't we, why have we not been talking about the Epstein files?’ Because that's still there,” Goldberg said.

According to her, the intense focus on the Iran situation may be drawing attention away from those issues. “This is meant to get us so worked up that we are unable to see anything else,” she added.

Sunny Hostin backs Whoopi Goldberg’s ‘wag the dog’ claim

Goldberg’s remarks were met with agreement from her fellow co-host Sunny Hostin, who suggested the situation felt like a classic political distraction.

Hostin described the circumstances as having a “wag the dog” feeling, a phrase often used when a major event is believed to shift public focus away from something else.

The conversation continued as the panel discussed how the Iran conflict was dominating headlines while other ongoing stories received less attention.

The panel also mentioned the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of NBC’s ‘Today’ show host Savannah Guthrie.

Nancy has reportedly been missing for more than 30 days. She is believed to have been kidnapped from her home in the Catalina Foothills area in northern Tucson around 2:30 am on February 1.

The case has drawn attention due to Guthrie’s connection to the well-known television host.

Whoopi Goldberg compares life in US and Iran

Goldberg’s comments on the Iran conflict come after she sparked controversy earlier with remarks comparing life in the United States to life in Iran. During a previous discussion in June, Goldberg suggested that certain experiences in the United States could feel similar.

However, co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin pushed back strongly on that comparison.

Griffin argued that the realities faced by women in Iran were very different from life in the United States.

In the year 2025 in the United States is nothing like if I step foot wearing this outfit into Iran right now,” Griffin said during the discussion. Goldberg disagreed with the comparison.

“It is the same,” she replied. “Murdering someone for their difference is not good whoever does it.” Griffin repeated that living in the United States in 2025 was “very different” from living under the Iranian regime. 

Goldberg, however, doubled down on her view. “Not if you're Black,” she said, with Hostin adding that the experience is “not for everybody.”

Whoopi Goldberg cautions against cost of war

Goldberg also expressed concern about the impact of war on American families.

Speaking on Monday’s episode of the show, she argued that military conflicts often result in ordinary people paying the highest price.

“Basically, we are sending people in to lose their lives,” Goldberg warned.

She said history has already shown the consequences of entering conflicts without clear outcomes.

“Because we have seen how fighting goes. We knew we shouldn’t have gone into Afghanistan. We knew that, and they decided to do it anyway,” she said.

Goldberg also criticized the idea of sending young Americans into battle while political leaders remain removed from the consequences.

“So, now we are in the same position where someone who doesn’t seem to care that human beings are being sent to war and people’s sons and daughters. His kids aren’t going,” she said, referring to Trump.