It was Groundhog Day during Monday’s edition of ABC’s The View. The staunchly anti-Trump cast once again reacting to an assassination attempt against former President Trump with a mix of claiming political violence came from “both sides,” calls or blaming guns, a call for a crackdown on the First Amendment, and one co-host scoffing at those who dare to suggest that politically motivated violence had no place in America.
Arguably, the worst reaction came from fake Republican and DNC speaker Ana Navarro, who seemed to scoff at the outrage over the political violence directed at her favorite hate object: Trump.
“I kept reading yesterday elected officials on both sides of the aisle tweet out, ‘In America, there is no room, there is no space for political violence’… what America do these folks live in that they think there's no space for political violence,” she chided as she proceeded to list off past politically motivated attacks:
…when Gabby Giffords, the congresswoman from Arizona got shot in the head at an event in her district. When the congressional baseball team got shot at. When Nancy Pelosi's husband got his skull bashed in with a hammer from a political enemy. When we had January 6th, when people raided and stormed Capitol. When, you know, we have had now two different attempts Donald trump.
“So, this is the America that we live in, and political violence is very much a part of it,” she proclaimed.
Navarro pivoted to saying, “We need to talk about how people with mental health issues keep getting easy access to assault weapons.” Staunchly racist and anti-Semitic co-host Sunny Hostin (the descendant of slave owners) pushed back to insist that shooters were not mentally ill. “Maybe it's less about mental health and more about America's fascination with guns,” she said.
“It’s certainly both,” agreed faux conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin.
Pretend moderate Sara Haines took a more extreme stance and demanded a crackdown on the First Amendment right to free speech, even huffing that Americans cared about it so much:
There was always hate speech. There's always been awful things said, but now the reach of that hate speech is great. There are countries even in Europe that have created, like, the council -- the No Hate Speech movement. Which, the one step before violence is that hate speech, and we have no regulation because we live in a country that -- I understand – values the First Amendment, but there's got to be a way that whether it's regulating social media -- The communities have to come together and change this.
In leading into the conversation at the top of the show, moderator Whoopi Goldberg tried to cast doubt on the fact that it was a second assassination attempt: “The FBI says they're investigating another apparent assassination attempt against former President – uh – Trump.”
That stumble in saying Trump’s name could possibly be her almost slipping back into her anti-Trump, dehumanizing shtick of refusing to say his name, only calling him “you-know-who.” In June, she made a show of accidentally saying his name by dramatically spitting on the floor.
Less than a week after the first assassination attempt against Trump, Goldberg attacked Trump’s grandkids for appearing and speaking at the Republican National Convention. “[T]hey're trying to humanize him and change your idea about who this guy is. Don't fall for that!” she glared at the camera.
As NewsBusters previously documented, The View has been a welcoming home to calls for political violence against their political opponents.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
September 16, 2024
11:02:19 a.m. EasternWHOOPI GOLDBERG: The FBI says they're investigating another apparent assassination attempt against former President – uh – Trump. He was playing golf at one of his Florida golf clubs when Secret Service agents spotted a man with an AK-47-style rifle, about 500 yards away. Now, agents fired shots and the man fled and was later apprehended.
President Biden and VP Harris made statements that they're thankful he was unharmed and that there is absolutely no place for this kind of violence.
(…)
11:05:44 a.m. Eastern
SARA HAINES: We have to elevate our rhetoric. That's the problem is for, like, ten years, there’s been a normalizing of, ‘oh, he didn't -- he or she didn't mean that or they were just speaking that way.’
The way our politicians are speaking right now, we never would have seen that 20 years ago. There's a point where there's an out of bounds, and there's no longer a bounds at all. People will say and do anything. And it's not just on the national level, this trickle down, we're seeing it in politicians, but somehow that's come all the way down and a lot of that's due to technology, and social media. The reach.
There was always hate speech. There's always been awful things said, but now the reach of that hate speech is great. There are countries even in Europe that have created, like, the council -- the No Hate Speech movement. Which, the one step before violence is that hate speech, and we have no regulation because we live in a country that -- I understand – values the First Amendment, but there's got to be a way that whether it's regulating social media -- The communities have to come together and change this.
ANA NAVARRO: You know, I – So, we kept hearing yesterday, and I kept reading yesterday elected officials on both sides of the aisle tweet out, ‘In America, there is no room, there is no space for political violence.’ And, you know, we condemn political violence. We condemn it no matter what it's perpetrated on or attempted on.
But, what America do these folks live in that they think there's no space for political violence when Gabby Giffords, the congresswoman from Arizona got shot in the head at an event in her district. When the congressional baseball team got shot at. When Nancy Pelosi's husband got his skull bashed in with a hammer from a political enemy. When we had January 6th, when people raided and stormed Capitol. When, you know, we have had now two different attempts Donald trump.
So, this is the America that we live in, and political violence is very much a part of it. Let me tell you. Bomb threats in Springfield. I consider that political violence
SUNNY HOSTIN: That is.
NAVARRO: Threats against -- threats against Taylor Swift because she made an endorsement, which we all have a right to do. I consider that political violence.
And you know what else we need to talk about? We need to talk about how people with mental health issues keep getting easy access to assault weapons.
[Applause]
To, you know, weapons of war. The last attempt -- assassination attempt was an AR-15; this was an AK-47!
So, we need to have that conversation in America. It needs to be bipartisan, and members of coverage Congress need to realize that it is not just that, you know, when there's a crazy shooter out there, it's not just Democrats. It's everything, and we’re all at risk. And this is a conversation. It's uncomfortable, but we need to have it.
HOSTIN: Maybe it's less about mental health and more about America's fascination with guns.
NAVARRO: [Inaudible] both.
AYLSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: It’s certainly both.
(…)
