Just a few weeks after declaring she was “happy” that the COVID-19 pandemic had America “embracing” socialism, The View host Sunny Hostin turned around and grilled Democrat Senator Bernie Sanders for touting socialism as an answer to this pandemic. As the 2020 presidential candidate called in to Wednesday’s show, he was given a mixed bag of questions. Some questioned his socialist policies, while at other times, he was lobbed softballs to tout those same policies. The only consistent questions in the interview were when the hosts invited him to bash President Trump.
In fact, that was the host’s first question to Sanders. Guest host Sara Haines invited Trump’s potential 2020 Democrat rival to trash Trump for spreading misinformation and fear:
“A lot of people are scared right now, and I think much of that is due to the misinformation that's floating out there, and a fair amount of that has come from the White House. What's the number one thing that keeps you up at night right now?” she asked.
This was just an opportunity for Sanders to trash Trump while blaming our “dysfunctional health care system.” Co-host Sunny Hostin picked up on that note, asking Sanders to tout how America would have fared far better had his socialist health care policies been in place:
“You say that the coronavirus crisis proves that our for-profit health care system is a failure. Can you explain why your Medicare for all plan would work better in this kind of scenario?”
While Sanders loftily claimed that there wouldn't be “anxiety” or a shortage of hospital supplies under his socialized plan, Sara Haines surprisingly pushed back on this, pointing out the underreported downfalls of socialized medicine:
SARA HAINES: Just to push back on that a little bit, countries with universal health care -- health care routinely have to wait longer, and sometimes die before receiving many of the medical treatments. Right now, if you can't afford to wait because Corona isn't -- they're having this -- it's not something you can wait on health care for. So what would your counter be to why that would be beneficial right now?
This was the toughest question in the interview and Sanders responded by flatly denying this was the case. He even claimed that many other countries including Canada, had better "quality" health care than the United States.
Hostin also reversed course with her next question, pressing Sanders on critics’ “allegations” that he was “politicizing” the virus instead of “coming together behind the president.” Considering this is what she has been doing for weeks now, the irony was a bit rich:
HOSTIN: Senator, some are accusing you of using the pandemic to push Medicare for all, and they're saying, you know, at a time -- at this time we should put politics aside and come together behind the president. What is your response to politicizing -- this allegation that everyone is politicizing this?
After Sanders denied he was doing this, Hostin went back to inviting Sanders to trash Trump "ignoring warnings" of a pandemic and asking him to explain why our medical professionals couldn't get the supplies they need.
Haines also jumped in to back off her earlier question as well:
HAINES: Just to clarify, I totally understand that the emphasis needs to be on the times we're in. I think so many people are trying to look down the road on more systematic changes in the election that can hopefully bring some of these visions forward which is why we're asking a bit about that.
Considering Hostin’s praise for socialism just over two weeks ago, it’s safe to say these critical questions weren’t because the hosts suddenly became moderate, but because they’re desperately trying to clear the way for their favorite, Joe Biden, to become the nominee.
