Melissa Rivers knows whom her mom would have voted for this past November.
“She knew them both,” Rivers said of Joan Rivers‘ relationships with the 2016 candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. “Our families had a very long, outside-of-the-spotlight relationship with the whole Trump family. I think in the beginning she would have been like, ‘Yes, great, great, great, super,’ and then she would have been like, ‘Oh s–t'” as he came closer to the presidency.
Chatting with Whoopi Goldberg on Wednesday night at the 92nd Street Y about her tell-all, “Joan Rivers Confidential,” the daughter of the late comedian knew her mother would have said, “Let’s get a woman in there.”
“She truly in her heart believed women are smarter and better and not so busy comparing how big it is with each other and just get s–t done,” said Melissa, 49. “I truly believe she felt for a long time it was time for a woman president, like ‘Enough of you boys pounding your chests, it’s so boring, let’s get a woman in there and get s–t organized and done.’ I think in the end of it all, she would have definitely been a Hillary supporter.”
In addition to having a social relationship with the now-first family, Joan appeared on Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” in 2009 and won, and then returned as an adviser for Season 8, which aired just months after her death at age 81 in September 2014.
But according to Melissa, her mom would have had a field day mocking Trump.
“Right now it is a little bit for comedians the gift that keeps on giving, every day seems to be Christmas, there’s always something to discuss. From a professional point of view, it would make her happy. It’s like fish in a barrel,” she said.
However, as a citizen — who, according to Melissa, couldn’t stand “people who were uninformed and willfully ignorant” — Joan wouldn’t have been as delighted.
“I think she would be pulling her extensions out one by one, just crazed,” but she also recognized, contrarily, that her mother might have put her friendship to good use.
“Bless my mother’s heart, [but] she was also incredibly shallow,” she said. “I think she would be having an internal fight of ‘Do I stand up for what I believe in or do I become an ambassador and get really good stationery that says “The Honorable” at the top of it for the rest of my life.'”
“I think the good would win,” Melissa said.