On Friday, Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis urged supporters to help “stop the Left's pro-criminal agenda, and take back the streets for law-abiding citizens” by contributing to the legal defense fund of Marine Corps veteran Daniel Penny, who helped defend people on a subway car from a deranged man and was facing manslaughter charges for his efforts. This triggered ABC’s staunchly racist co-host of The View, Sunny Hostin, who spent part of Monday’s episode decrying DeSantis and calling him “dangerous.”
“We must defeat the Soros-Funded DAs, stop the Left's pro-criminal agenda, and take back the streets for law-abiding citizens. We stand with Good Samaritans like Daniel Penny. Let’s show this Marine... America’s got his back,” DeSantis wrote on Twitter with a link to the GiveSendGo campaign set up to support Penny.
We must defeat the Soros-Funded DAs, stop the Left's pro-criminal agenda, and take back the streets for law abiding citizens. We stand with Good Samaritans like Daniel Penny. Let’s show this Marine... America’s got his back.
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantisFL) May 13, 2023
https://t.co/uQXZuT19Mo
DeSantis was top of mind for the cast of The View because they didn’t like the idea of him getting the GOP nomination for president. As one of their faux conservative co-hosts, Ana Navarro described DeSantis as “a parasite” who attaches himself “to every single manufactured culture war issue he can.”
Hostin followed up by admitting: “What scares me about Ron DeSantis is that he offers Trumpism without Trump. So, those people so repelled by Donald Trump, and there are many people, won't be as repelled by him, I think.”
She brought up DeSantis’s support for Penny directly and suggested the over $2 million raised for Penny’s legal defense was some kind of reward for killing a black man, Jordan Neely. “He is actually fundraising for his defense, and he's made $2 million already for killing a young black man,” she declared.
The funds being raised were not any form of reward or bounty as Hostin portrayed them. The GiveSendGo campaign was being organized by the law firm Penny hired and they even explained: “Any proceeds collected which exceed those necessary to cover Mr. Penny’s legal defense will be donated to a mental health advocacy program in New York City.”
Ironic, since Hostin has also demanded defunding the NYPD in favor of mental health spending because of this incident.
Last week, Hostin came to the defense of Neely who was menacing the subway car Penny was in. She omitted the fact that Neely was threatening to hurt people on the train and falsely suggested he was only asking people for help. She lashed out at the riders for not forking over their money. “Where was the humanity of anyone that was on that train?! I would have given him money! I would have tried to give him food! I would have tried to help!” she shrieked.
Back on Monday, Hostin concluded her comments by implying that since DeSantis was a lawyer, he knew perfectly well the only legitimate side of the legal battle was hers and declared him “dangerous” for going against that:
And you have Ron DeSantis, who's a lawyer, who says he is actually not a -- he's not a vigilante, that he's this great guy. When in New York, it's just a reckless killing, and he was reckless in doing that. So, for a lawyer to say what we’re hearing Ron DeSantis – just tells me how dangerous he is.
Sunny Hostin’s outrage at Gov. DeSantis supporting a Marine veteran was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from CarFax and LifeLock. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
May 15, 2023
11:04:09 a.m. Eastern(…)
ANA NAVARRO: I think it's because he's attached himself like a parasite to every single manufactured culture war issue he can and people, particularly Floridians, see through it. It’s an old shtick now: drag queens, Mickey Mouse, AP black history courses. I mean, it’s just crazy.
SUNNY HOSTIN: He’s in the business of otherizing people. But what I will say: what scares me about Ron DeSantis is that he offers Trumpism without Trump. So, those people so repelled by Donald Trump, and there are many people, won't be as repelled by him, I think. And those manufactured culture issues seem to be very effective with that base, that particular base, and part of the Republican Party as well. Definitely the right-wing part. I think that he can be effective.
And let’s remember, he's a lawyer. He's Harvard and Yale-trained and educated. He's not a stupid man. So he is really leaning into Trumpism, knowing what the base wants. And that scares me.
I mean, he actually tweeted out about the -- you know, the young man that was killed on a subway with a chokehold by a former Marine – Jordan Neely. He is actually fundraising for his defense, and he's made $2 million already for killing a young black man.
And you have Ron DeSantis, who's a lawyer, who says he is actually not a -- he's not a vigilante, that he's this great guy. When in New York, it's just a reckless killing, and he was reckless in doing that. So, for a lawyer to say what we’re hearing Ron DeSantis – just tells me how dangerous he is.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: And everyone is entitled to a legal defense, though. And I’ve been clear on what I think of Jordy Neely --- what amounted to manslaughter is what he’s being charged with.
(…)
