Whoopi Goldberg has compared an incident in which a group of Trump supporters surrounded a Biden campaign bus on a busy highway to a scene from Mississippi Burning.
In footage of the incident, a large bus bearing Biden’s name is followed by pickup trucks and large SUVs with Trump flags on all sides while driving in Texas.
The dangerous confrontation was widely condemned, with some calling it an ‘ambush’. The FBI have since launched an investigation into the incident. The Biden campaign accused the Trump supporters of trying to run the bus off the road, while the president praised the participants.
Appearing on talk show The View on Monday (2 November), Goldberg condemned the drivers, stating that it was “one of the most dangerous things you can do”.
“Buses can’t stop on a dime, and be happy that you drivers didn’t get hit when you surrounded this bus,” she said. “You could’ve caused all kinds of havoc. You could’ve gotten yourselves killed, because the buses can’t slow down the way you need them to.”
Goldberg continued: “Thank God this person saw and slowed in order to let you do what you did, which looked a lot like a scene out of Mississippi Burning, when trucks and cars are surrounding people who are trying to go drive. It was really freaky to see.”
Released in 1988, Mississippi Burning is loosely based on the disappearance of civil rights activists James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, who were killed by the Ku Klux Klan in 1964.
The film starred Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe and was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture.
The View presenters then watched footage of Trump praising the “very good people” involved in the incident, who he claimed were simply “escorting the bus”.
Directly addressing the president, Goldberg continued: “Yeah, you’re really lucky that you didn’t get anybody killed talking this way.”
