ABC’s The View – like the rest of the liberal media – had used incendiary rhetoric against former President Trump for years and had hosted many calls for violence against their political opponents. Yet, in the wake of the assassination attempt against Trump, the liberal ladies opened their Monday show with mealy-mouth lip service to the need to tamp down the rhetoric; refusing to issue any apology for what they’ve said and allowed on their program, and blamed gun rights for the attack.
After playing a clip of the shooting and a soundbite of President Biden’s Oval Office address where he said “We can't allow this violence to be normalized,” moderator Joy Behar agreed by questioned if it could happen: “I think we all agree with Biden…Is that even possible, ladies?”
Faux conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin was the first to speak. She didn’t walk back any of her previous hyperbolic and incendiary claims that Trump was an existential threat to the country, but opined about how it was “a moment for reflection on the tone and tenor of our politics, and one thing that is fundamentally American is the right to criticize policies. It is also the right to criticize the character of our politicians, but the way in which we do it matters.”
“And we live in an era where escalatory rhetoric and saying the most damning and inciting thing is oftentimes what’s rewarded. And I think it’s incumbent on all of us to just check how we engage,” she proclaimed without looking in a mirror.
Up next was famously Never-Trump Republican Ana Navarro and to her credit, was the only cast member to mention how they internalized what they witnessed and would change their behavior. “So, you know, I'm very happy Donald Trump is safe…And I'm very happy for President Biden. I'm very happy he's taking the opportunity to be on air now three times asking us to call on our better angels, asking us to unite, asking us to tamp down the rhetoric. I'm going to try to heed his words,” she said.
Unfortunately, she did pivot and used the incident to call for gun control while also injecting race into the equation:
And I also need to say I hope that at some point in this country, we do have a conversation about what is happening because we can't just react when it is our side. What was this again? It was, you know, a 20-year-old lone wolf, white wack job with easy access to a gun, and we have to have conversation about that. Cause it wasn't a drag queen. It wasn't an immigrant. It wasn't a pissed off liberal woman. This is – And this keeps happening, and we need to react not as left or right, not as Republicans or Democrats. We need to react as Americans, and we need to ask better.
Behar responded with her own ignorance of about firearms; wondering what a “white guy” who “bought 50 rounds of ammunition” didn’t have the police called on him by the gun store owner. “Shouldn't that have been reported?” she scoffed.
Depending on the type of ammo being bought, 50 rounds could be as little as one box.
Staunchly racist and anti-Semitic co-host Sunny Hostin (the descendant of slave owners) also refused to commit to tamping down on her dangerous rhetoric. She too tried to make the assassination attempt about stripping gun rights away from law-abiding Americans. She was afraid the focus would instead be on holding the Secret Service accountable for the security failure (click “expand”):
HOSTIN: I think what's going to happen is we're going to have more of this rhetoric of, had there only been more good guys with guns, this may not have happened. And so --
BEHAR: Well, the Secret Service had guns.
HOSTIN: They had guns.
BEHAR: Those are the good guys.
HOSTIN: My guess is they're going to say the Secret Service screwed up, if there were other people with guns. And I think gun ownership will probably – because of this event, go up in this country instead of going down, and that is my fear.
Again, The View has been a dangerous sources of incendiary rhetoric targeting Trump and conservatives. The day before the attempt on Trump’s life, Behar proclaimed that Project 2025 was a “blueprint for a fascist regime” being cooked up by Trump’s people, which she did not apologize for.
The View cast did not push back on leftist-extremist guest Jane Fonda when she declared that her solution to dealing with the existence of pro-lifers was to “murder” them. They also defended author John Grisham when he fantasized about assassinating U.S. Supreme Court justices.
They also encouraged leftist mobs to assail the homes of conservative justices and Behar cheered on Justice Alito feeling unsafe to leave the house. After the assassination attempt on Justice Kavanaugh and his family, The View decried calls for increasing security at the justices’ homes. Hostin also said it was “ridiculous” for Kavanaugh to fear a liberal mob that targeted him at a restaurant not long after the attempt on his life.
And it’s been clear for a while that The View doesn’t respect Trump’s life. Behar insisted that “comedian” Kathy Griffin’s bloody-Trump-head threat as just “a picture.” Meanwhile, moderator Whoopi Goldberg refused to say Trump’s name, choosing to call him “you know who.” Goldberg slipped up late last month and said his name, she quickly spit on the floor in disgust.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
July 15, 2024
11:03:37 a.m. Eastern(…)
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: We can't allow this violence to be normalized.
[Cuts back to live]
JOY BEHAR: I think we all agree with Biden. Right? And trump said that he's rewriting his RNC speech to call for unity also. So, they're both trying to lower the temperature. Is that even possible, ladies?
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: Well, first and foremost, I want to say thank God that the former president is okay. I applaud secret service. There will be postmortems on what went wrong, but those who rushed the stage to make sure he's okay. Because we're milliseconds and millimeters from a very different outcome and a very different conversation we would be having in our country today.
I think it's a moment for reflection on the tone and tenor of our politics, and one thing that is fundamentally American is the right to criticize policies. It is also the right to criticize the character of our politicians, but the way in which we do it matters. And we live in an era where escalatory rhetoric and saying the most damning and inciting thing is oftentimes what’s rewarded. And I think it’s incumbent on all of us to just check how we engage.
And looking to the fact that we live in the era of information warfare. On our phones, there are algorithms that are pumping to us information every day made meant to hate our fellow Americans. Our former adversaries are on social media. They are there putting information to validate our worst assumptions about fellow Americans.
We can have different political viewpoints in this country and we can still respect each other and respect each other's right to different opinions and come together as a country. Because the way you defeat America, it's not with bombs, it's not with missiles; it's tearing us apart from within. If you care about democracy, listen more, say less.
ANA NAVARRO: So, you know, I'm very happy Donald Trump is safe, full stop, period. And I condemn all forms of political violence. I'm simply heartbroken for the family of Corey Comperatore, a volunteer fire chief, a father, a husband who lost his life shielding his family simply for going to a political rally.
And I was watching it live because I thought he was going to announce his VP that day. That was part of what was being said, and I immediately thought it was a shooting. And I was shocked and I was heartbroken because I fled political violence in Nicaragua. And to me, this is something that's not supposed to happen in America. I felt the same way when I did watching January 6th. These attacks on democracy, on America don't happen in this country. They happen in other places.
And I'm very happy for President Biden. I'm very happy he's taking the opportunity to be on air now three times asking us to call on our better angels, asking us to unite, asking us to tamp down the rhetoric. I'm going to try to heed his words. Today is a day I think and an entire time for self-reflection and a call to unity. I truly hope Donald Trump uses the platform he has to do that.
And I also need to say I hope that at some point in this country, we do have a conversation about what is happening because we can't just react when it is our side. What was this again? It was, you know, a 20-year-old lone wolf, white wack job with easy access to a gun, and we have to have conversation about that. Cause it wasn't a drag queen. It wasn't an immigrant. It wasn't a pissed off liberal woman. This is – And this keeps happening, and we need to react not as left or right, not as Republicans or Democrats. We need to react as Americans, and we need to ask better.
BEHAR: All right. I just want to add that the shooter -- yes, it was a 20-year-old kitchen worker from nearby Bethel Park in Pennsylvania. According to a CNN reporter, senior law enforcement officials said that he bought 50 rounds of ammunition from a local gun store hours before the rally. Shouldn't that have been reported? Somebody buys -- a 20-year-old white guy. I mean, we've seen that many times now. Young, white men with guns. Nobody reported that he bought 50 rounds of ammunition?
(…)
11:15:19 a.m. Eastern
SUNNY HOSTIN: 10 percent of those surveyed said that the use of force is justified to prevent Donald Trump from becoming president. A third of those who gave that answer, also said they owned a gun. Then seven percent of those surveyed said they support force to restore Trump to the presidency; half of them said they owned guns.
So, I know everybody always says, it's too soon to talk about guns, and we should -- because there has been a terrible death of a father of two, but, that thoughts and prayers should be where we go. I say no. I say now is the time to talk about the common denominator when it came to this assassination attempt, is America's fascination and obsession with owning guns, and –
[Applause]
It just -- that's the truth. I would like to think --
BEHAR: Not just guns, they're rifles. They’re high capacity rifles.
HOSTIN: They’re AR-15s and bump stocks, and the Supreme Court just found that it's fine to have bump stocks.
And so, I’d like to think that the issue of gun control would resonate now more, and -- but rather than that, I think what's going to happen is we're going to have more of this rhetoric of, had there only been more good guys with guns, this may not have happened. And so --
BEHAR: Well, the Secret Service had guns.
HOSTIN: They had guns.
BEHAR: Those are the good guys.
HOSTIN: My guess is they're going to say the Secret Service screwed up, if there were other people with guns. And I think gun ownership will probably – because of this event, go up in this country instead of going down, and that is my fear. I think we need to have an honest and real conversation about real gun control legislation.
(…)
