Whoopi Goldberg warned House Democrats who missed a vote on impeaching Pete Hegseth that voters could take away the power they had just given the party.
Her warning on Wednesday’s episode of The View came after 11 Democrats failed to vote on the measure.
The House vote failed 211 to 204 on Tuesday. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who lost his reelection bid, introduced the articles of impeachment, and California Rep. Nancy Pelosi was among the Democrats who missed the vote, according to Mediaite.
Goldberg told the lawmakers that “we can remove you from power” as she warned them against missing another vote. Her advice to members who expected traffic was to “leave your house early” the next time they knew a vote was coming.
HOUSE REPUBLICANS TABLE HEGSETH IMPEACHMENT: After the effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stalled yesterday with help from 11 Democrats who did not show up to vote, ‘The View’ co-hosts discuss. pic.twitter.com/iJpyap83ch
— The View (@TheView) November 11, 2026
New Mexico Rep. Melanie Stansbury told reporters that she and several other Democrats got caught in traffic and failed to reach the chamber in time, according to The Hill.
On the show, Goldberg also cited health issues and a previously scheduled event among the reasons members had given.
The panel played a clip of Massie criticizing lawmakers who were absent. Goldberg joined in, calling the absences “a very bad way to come out of the gate” after the election.
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Joy Behar was particularly annoyed by the traffic explanation. Alyssa Farah Griffin called the absences “shameful” after noting that new members had been at a fundraiser down the street despite knowing the vote was taking place.
Griffin argued that the episode played into frustration with Washington. She summed up that perception with the phrase “cocktail parties and smoke-filled rooms” to describe what she thought voters saw instead of lawmakers doing their jobs.
Sara Haines characterized the missed votes as “a self-inflicted wound on the Democrats” after the party’s election wins. She contrasted the party’s appeal for people to show up at the polls with lawmakers’ failure to show up for a vote a week later.
Haines recalled voters asking Democrats for help after hearing calls to make their voices heard and vote for change. She called the absences “a bad look” for a party that had just asked those voters to turn out.
Democrats are set to take control of the House and Senate in January following their midterm wins.
Goldberg had already used the show the previous week to tell them that voters put them in office to get work done and that their disagreements could wait.
The moderator’s advice the week before the vote was to “kvetch at each other after you take care of the people’s business” if they wanted to argue.
She had told Democrats that viewers did not want to hear about their feuds before they saw what the party could do in office.
On Tuesday, The View aired clips of Democrats weighing whether Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries should stay in charge.
Goldberg wanted to hear what lawmakers planned to do in their first 100 days, regardless of how long they had served.
Her list included bringing down the price of groceries and gasoline, restoring funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits and reuniting separated families. She argued that making the leadership fight public would turn the party itself into a distraction.
“We put you in there to clean house, to make sure that the government works the way the people want it to work,” the moderator said during that segment.
Griffin drew a distinction between the two leaders. She predicted that Jeffries would become the next House speaker and said questions about his leadership were coming from the “far left” of the party.
For Schumer, she suggested taking credit for helping recruit and elect Democratic candidates and then stepping aside. She invoked Pelosi as the example to follow in making room for a new generation.
On The Weekly Show, Jon Stewart pressed Sen. Bernie Sanders about whether both leaders should be replaced when Congress returns in January.
The Daily Show host, 63, questioned whether Schumer relied too heavily on Senate procedures or approaches that had failed before.
Should Chuck Schumer be the Senate Majority Leader? Sen. Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) weighs in. New pod tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/94yFjcS2rq
— The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart (@weeklyshowpod) November 10, 2026
Stewart acknowledged that Schumer’s institutional knowledge could be useful. He asked what value it had if the leader did little with it to move the Senate more quickly.
The host asked if Schumer was too attached to “status quo solutions that maybe haven’t worked in the past” and whether deference to Senate procedures was part of the problem.
Sanders, an independent from Vermont, backed new leadership that would move the party “in a much more vigorous way to protect the needs of working families” when the new Congress takes office.
He pointed to Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen as a possible replacement for Schumer, and Van Hollen has indicated he is open to challenging the Senate leader.
On an earlier podcast, Stewart had called for Democrats to stop letting seniority determine who leads. He described seniority as “a bullshit system” and argued that it needed to go.
George Clooney, we've got another op-ed for you. Jon weighs in on why it's time for Democrats to pass the torch. New pod out now! pic.twitter.com/sb0UycoXUZ
— The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart (@weeklyshowpod) November 5, 2026
Stewart also disputed the idea that Schumer deserved broad credit for assembling the candidates who helped the party win.
The comedian contended that the senator had fought many of those candidates and did not grasp how urgently Democrats needed to act.