The hosts of “The View” thought that when Dr. Phil McGraw appeared as a guest on Monday, he would just be promoting his upcoming book. But then the popular TV presenter changed the subject and drew the ire of the hosts when he spoke about the harmful effects that school closures have had on innocent children during the Covid pandemic.
The segment took another turn when co-host Sarah Hines asked Dr. Phil a question about how social media has led to parents adapting to ensure they are still the “best voice” in their children's ears. He responded by pointing out how the introduction of smartphones has caused young people to stop living active lives, leading to a massive rise in depression and suicide rates.
Dr. Phil then changed tack and detailed how the COVID-19 pandemic has made everything worse for kids. He specifically noted that when schools closed, reporters were no longer mandated to report on children being abused and sexually assaulted. Instead, the children were returned home to their abusers.
An upset Whoopi Goldberg tried to justify this terrible fact by claiming that government officials were only “trying to save children's lives.” She then tried to claim that America got “lucky” because we kept children locked up.
A distraught Ana Navarro completely missed Dr. Phil's point and stupidly asked him if he was saying no kids at school have died from coronavirus.
Dr. Phil wasn't interested in their nonsense. He gave a final reality check to the hosts, pointing out that children were the safest group and were still suffering from coronavirus mismanagement.
The audience applauded him in the end. Goldberg then thanked him, and the show went to a commercial break.
Watch (main clip starts at 7:09):
Dr. Phil just went on “The View” and talked to all the hosts about how crazy it is that schools are closing due to coronavirus. And their fans are cheering for him! Dr. Phil from the rafters! pic.twitter.com/SQtq68SkFM
– Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) February 26, 2024
text:
Dr. Phil: In 2008 and 2009, smartphones came out, and kids started, they stopped living their lives and started watching people live their lives, and so we saw the biggest spike and the highest levels of depression and anxiety and loneliness and suicide that records have ever been kept, and they're continuing on and on.
Coronavirus strikes ten years later. And the same agencies that knew this are the same agencies that closed schools for two years. Who does that?
Who takes away the support system for these children and shuts it down?
And by the way, when they closed it down, they prevented mandated reporters from seeing children who had been abused and sexually molested, and in effect, they sent them home and left them to their abusers. Referrals decreased by 50-60%.
Goldberg: They were trying to save children's lives. We know people who died during this, so it wasn't people who…
Dr. Phil: Not schoolchildren.
GOLDBERG: Well, you know, we're lucky that we keep them away from places where they might not get sick.
Navarro (astonished): Are you saying that no school children died from the Corona virus?
Dr. Phil: I'd say it was the safest group. They were the group least at risk.
They have suffered and will suffer more from the mismanagement of the coronavirus than they will suffer from exposure to it. This is not an opinion. This is a fact.
