‘They Cut the Services!’ Joy Behar Fumes At GOP Cutting Mental Health Funding Amid Murder Outcry
The View’s Joy Behar pointed the finger at President Donald Trump and Republicans after the horrific killing of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska was captured on video.
On Wednesday’s The View, Behar and her co-hosts aligned in calling for more mental health services after Zarutska was stabbed on a train in Charlotte. Authorities identified Decarlos Brown Jr. as the man sitting behind her. Footage shows Zarutska being stabbed multiple times during the August 22 attack. She was later declared dead at the scene.
The president has called for the death penalty in the case.
On The View, Whoopi Goldberg argued against the politicization of the attack, blasting pundits for trying to put “blood” on the other side’s hands. Behar argued, however, that the murder absolutely is political as she railed against the current administration and Republicans.
“Stop politicizing this. This is not political. This has to do with how we take care of our sick Americans when they are in need,” Goldberg said.
Goldberg called for funding for mental health services not to be cut following the murder, and Behar argued mental health services cuts are exactly why the situation is “political.” North Carolina currently has a Democratic mayor in Josh Stein. Brown Jr. had a history of arrests in North Carolina, and during the time of the murder, he was free on bail. His mother told local media he suffered from schizophrenia.
“That is exactly why it is a political situation,” Behar said. “Because in the first 40 days of the Trump administration, this one, they terminated 128 grants from The National Institute of Mental Health. In May, they cut $1 billion in federal grants for mental health services. And then they talk about, oh, mentally ill people with the guns and mentally ill people are killing, blah, blah, blah, but then they cut the services!”
Watch above via ABC.
