To put it simply, CNN is lying to its viewers whenever folks like Ana Navarro are presented as a “Republican strategist.” The Jeffrey Zucker-led circus did just that on Monday afternoon’s CNN Newsroom as the panel giggled and marveled at Navarro’s turn to the left offering childish insults about Republicans and vote for Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum.
Even if you had been living under a rock, Navarro made clear where her allegiances lie, stating that “this election is a referendum on Trump” and that the President has “insert[ed] himself in so many of these races” with warnings about how “the migrants are coming and it’s an evasion and the Martians are going to all, you know, come down to a spaceship and kill us all, the people go crazy.”
Baldwin and her fellow panelists were left in stitches with Baldwin wondering: “How do you follow that?”
After being congratulated on her engagement to former Florida GOP head Al Cardenas, Baldwin asked her to elaborate on her decision to back Gillum while her fiancé will stick with the GOP and back Ron DeSantis.
Navarro lamented that both Cardenas and Jeb Bush are backing DeSantis, but she insisted that it won’t be all that bad since the Sunshine State is likely “to stay with a Republican legislature...so there are going to be checks and balances in Florida that have not existed in Washington for the last two years and that meant a lot to me.”
It was here that the Never Trump Republican (read: Democrat) channeled the thrill inside Chris Matthews’s leg when she talked about Gillum:
[A]nd then I went and met Andrew Gillum...That guy can charm a cat out of a tree. I have not liked somebody off the bat so quickly in I don't know how long. I don't know if he's going to be my governor or not, but if he's not my governor, I want him to be my friend. He is ground. He is likable. He's approachable. He's folksy. He's energetic, he's unifying. He's inspiring. He’s happy. I mean, I haven't seen this in the Republican Party in a number of years.
She then went onto trash various Republicans she’s voted for over the years in Florida, such as Rick Scott for having “the social skills of a root vegetable” and Charlie Crist (but he’s now a partisan Democrat, so that’s moot).
Navarro concluded that “Trump was...the straw that broke the camel’s back” and she’s not alone among South Florida Republicans who will back Gillum because “they just can't bring themselves to support somebody that has, that has based his entire campaign, Ron DeSantis, on being a parasitic twin to Donald Trump.”
Ah, yes. Tell us again how Trump’s a juvenile dweeb when simultaneously hurling middle school insults back. Good luck with that!
“Don't hold back. Don’t hold back, Ana Navarro,” Baldwin gushed in reply.
Instead of being a Republican, Navarro’s views were staunchly backed up by not only Baldwin, but also special correspondent Jamie Gangel and former Clinton official Paul Begala.
Referring to when Republicans like George W. Bush won substantial numbers of Hispanics, she hailed Oprah’s campaigning to pivot and play the gender card (click “expand”):
When I heard Oprah's speech and she talked about, I have earned the right to my vote, I have earned the right to my opinion. You know, so I'm marrying a very traditional Cuban man — Cuban American man, a Latin man, but I think it's important for women, for spouses, you know, regardless of gender, to be able to have a civil conversation about differences and what their priorities are, and to be able to exert their expect right to a political opinion and a vote when that happens. So if your wife wants to vote different than you, you've got to let her and you've got to support her.
Before a break, Navarro received zero pushback as she claimed that the President’s immigration views were directly to blame for the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting (click “expand”):
BALDWIN: So let me end on this note from Jim Acosta. A senior GOP congressional aide said Trump's push in the final days before the midterm could well cost the Republican party control over the House.
NAVARRO: It's been overkill. It’s been the ad. It’s been birthright citizenship, it’s been the migrant caravan, which triggered the guy in Pennsylvania to go kill. I mean, it's been crazy. It’s been crazy.
GANGEL: But this is also Donald Trump. He — remember when we used to say, he's going to pivot. He never pivoted. He could be pivoting toward the economy, the economy, the economy. He had something to run on. He didn’t go to run on the economy.
NAVARRO: Girls, we've all experienced with men, they don't change.
BALDWIN: Thank you for the belly laugh today. I appreciate every single one of you.
To see the relevant transcript from November 5's CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin, click “expand.”
CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin
November 5, 2018
3:05 p.m. EasternANA NAVARRO: I think this election is a referendum on Trump. Everywhere you go, I mean, for me, as a voter, it was a referendum on Trump. It was more about Trump than it was about Rick Scott or if it was about the — look, I live in a congressional candidate, a Senate seat, and a governor's race that are all up in the air and the one issue that was weighing heavily was Trump. He made himself the issue back in the primaries. So many of these primaries were decided by what Republican embraced him more, resembled him more, sucked up to him more and so many of the Democratic primaries were decided by what Democrat confronted him more, was more of a contrast to him. So the cast was dye back in the primaries and then he has go on to insert himself in so many of these races and we’ve seen today —
BROOKE BALDWIN: Although he said today, oh, no, no, this isn't a referendum on me.
NAVARRO: — of course it is! And I can see why he feels that the immigration issue resonates so much. Because they only keep him in a very narrowly defined area, geographic area, where he is very popular. He doesn't come to South Florida, where there are congressional races like Carlos Curbelo or like the Illeana Ros-Lehtinen's old district where he would be an anchor. They take him to places like Pensacola, where he fills up rallies and every time he says, build the wall, and the migrants are coming and it’s an evasion and the Martians are going to all, you know, come down to a spaceship and kill us all, the people go crazy. [BALDWIN LAUGHS]
BALDWIN [LAUGHING]: Sorry. How do you follow that?
PAUL BEGALA: And the wall won't stop the Martians. That's the problem with the wall.
(....)
BALDWIN: I look to you, my friend, who Al Cardenas put a ring on it. So, Al, we're talking about you here today, congratulations.
BEGALA: Good job, Al.
BALDWIN: Now, Al, Republican Party, Florida. You, my friend, who have decided to go one way on the gubernatorial ballot, unlike your husband to be. Can you walk me through that decision?
NAVARRO: Yeah, we talked about it and look, Al was the former chair of the Republican Party of Florida under Jeb, both Jeb and Al, neither of whom are big fans of Donald Trump, and that's a hell of an understatement, are supporting DeSantis big-time. Jeb is campaigning for him, Al has raised money for him. I don't like DeSantis. For me, the Trump issue trumps the, you know, Tallahassee issue. For them, they don't want the idea of gridlock, they think that the policy differences are too great. Look, Florida is going to stay with a Republican legislature. If Andrew Gillum becomes governor, he's going to have to work with that Republican legislature if anything is going to get done. So there are going to be checks and balances in Florida that have not existed in Washington for the last two years and that meant a lot to me and then I went and met Andrew Gillum because I said, I'm not going to do this without meeting this guy. That guy can charm a cat out of a tree. I have not liked somebody off the bat so quickly in I don't know how long. I don't know if he's going to be my governor or not, but if he's not my governor, I want him to be my friend. He is ground. He is likable. He's approachable. He's folksy. He's energetic, he's unifying. He's inspiring. He’s happy. I mean, I haven't seen this in the Republican Party in a number of years. But I was so loyal to the Republican Party, I voted for Charlie Crist for governor, who I thought was dumber than, you know, a bag of charcoal. I voted for Rick Scott, who I thought had the social skills of a root vegetable. But Trump was, for me, the straw that broke the camel’s back and when I saw the racist ad, when I heard the attacks on the caravan, it was just a bridge too far for me. I’ve — you know — I have a lot of friends in Miami and South Florida who do not like Trump and I tell you, about half of them have gone Republican, because they just can't bring themselves to not. About half of them are voting for Gillum, because like me, they just can't bring themselves to support somebody that has, that has based his entire campaign, Ron DeSantis, on being a parasitic twin to Donald Trump.
BALDWIN: Don't hold back. Don’t hold back, Ana Navarro. You mentioned that racist dad and let me — I was just handed some new information we have from Jeff Zeleny over at the White House for us because apparently, remember the ad last week, the economy, you know, ala morning in America, Reaganesque, right? But apparently the president saw, quote, and “he hated it.” “He hated it.” So what did we see next? The racist ad. The racist ad. And toing both of your points —
JAMIE RANGEL: Fear and rage.
BALDWIN: Fear and rage sell.
BEGALA: Right. And Jamie said that even before Jeff reported this.
BALDWIN: Right.
BEGALA: And that's exactly right. And President Reagan — I’m a Democrat win never supported him. He was so positive that he would tell his speechwriters, they would write a line for him. I used to write speeches for the president, for Clinton. And they would say, “I will never forget,” and he would cross that out and say, “No, I will always remember.” Put in the positive. Everything with the Gipper had to be positive and the guy won 49 states. So this President just seems so wedded to fear and smear and golly, it worked in 2016. It really did. Now, he just snuck the goods through customs, okay? It was only by 77,000 votes and he won Pennsylvania plus Michigan plus Wisconsin, but he did win and I think it's — we’re going to see tomorrow, it's probably a limited strategy to try to carry that forward. Instead of expand the way Reagan did, he seems to be shrinking his party.
GANGEL: One little other thing to Paul's point and that is, we're not just talking about the election tomorrow and the legacy for the Republican Party. We're talking about, down the road. Two years from now, four years from now. George W. Bush was talking about immigration, making the Republican Party bigger. The big tent. Donald Trump has turned it into the pup tent, right? This is where are Republicans, we all know what the demographics are in this country. What is this going to mean for the Republican party down the road.
NAVARRO: Which is why Jeb Bush in Florida used to win the Hispanic vote hands down and George W. Bush would, you know —
BEGALA: He got 40. 40 percent.
NAVARRO: — got 44 percent of the Hispanic vote. In our lifetime, it feels like dinosaurs were roaming the Earth when that happened. But something else I want to tell you. When I heard Oprah's speech and she talked about, I have earned the right to my vote, I have earned the right to my opinion. You know, so I'm marrying a very traditional Cuban man — Cuban American man, a Latin man, but I think it's important for women, for spouses, you know, regardless of gender, to be able to have a civil conversation about differences and what their priorities are, and to be able to exert their expect right to a political opinion and a vote when that happens. So if your wife wants to vote different than you, you've got to let her and you've got to support her.
BEGALA: We are closing in on 30th anniversary and I always get the last two words of every fight, “yes, dear.” That’s — I surrender immediately.
BALDWIN: Good man. Good man.
(....)
BALDWIN: So let me end on this note from Jim Acosta. A senior GOP congressional aide said Trump's push in the final days before the midterm could well cost the Republican party control over the House.
NAVARRO: It's been overkill. It’s been the ad. It’s been birthright citizenship, it’s been the migrant caravan, which triggered the guy in Pennsylvania to go kill. I mean, it's been crazy. It’s been crazy.
GANGEL: But this is also Donald Trump. He — remember when we used to say, he's going to pivot. He never pivoted. He could be pivoting toward the economy, the economy, the economy. He had something to run on. He didn’t go to run on the economy.
NAVARRO: Girls, we've all experienced with men, they don't change.
BALDWIN: Thank you for the belly laugh today. I appreciate every single one of you.
