Presidential candidate Donald Trump certainly doesn't mince words when it comes to expressing his opinion on just about anything.
The GOP businessman continued that trend when he signed an online petition on Monday calling for the Cable News Network to fire “Republican strategist” Ana Navarro, who is also identified as a “political commentator” with CNN.
The petition, which was begun by Natalie Olivia on the change.org website, begins:
We demand CNN immediately fire so-called “Republican strategist” Ana Navarro based on the falsification of her credentials, her lack of any particular expertise on political matters and her obvious bias toward presidential flame-out Jeb Bush, as well as her general stupidity.
Should [corporation president] Jeff Zucker and CNN ignore this petition, the next step will be civil disobedience at various CNN bureaus and orchestrated verbal confrontation with CNN on-air talent.
“The people will not be denied,” Olivia concluded. “Ana Navarro must go!”
Trump obviously agreed with that sentiment, since he posted the following message in his Twitter account: “CNN should listen. Ana Navarro has no talent, no TV persona, and works for [GOP presidential candidate Jeb] Bush -- total conflict of interest.”
However, the Republican presidential front-runner hasn't been the only person to call for Navarro to be shown the door by the network.
One of the comments on the petition page came from Lyons, New York: “She is a terrible commentator. I have seen her for years, and she is awful.”
A man in Granada Hills, Calif., came out swinging: “Ana Navarro must be fired! She's a hack and a big fat LIAR!” A poster in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., agreed Navarro is a liar but added that she's also “useless.”
“She is a big-league irritant who can barely speak correct English,” a man in Cape Coral, Fla., stated, while a man in Waterloo, Canada, went so far as to charge that “CNN is corrupt and is always giving people false information time and time again.”
NewsBusters has been reporting Navarro's partisan remarks since March of 2013, when she declared opponents of legalized same-sex marriage need to "get in to the 21st century" and ditch the "losing political issue."
In June of that year, Bill Maher -- host of HBO's Real Time Friday evening program – showed that Navarro had become the liberal media’s new darling when he asserted: “You disagree with everything the Republicans do, but you are one of them. I don’t understand.”
“I'm a big tent Republican,” she responded.
During an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press in mid-August, Navarro was one of all four panelists who ambushed Congressman Steve King of Ohio for the Iowa Republican's tough stand on illegal immigration.
While a guest on another Sunday-morning program -- ABC's This Week -- this past January, Navarro agreed with fellow liberal GOP strategist Nicolle Wallace that the Republican Party should “talk to the country with an optimistic vision and message. That's what we have to offer America. The time for being the 'hell no' party is over. That's not going to win 2016.”
It came as no surprise that CNN's New Day morning show shut out social conservatives from a panel discussion on Senator Marco Rubio's remark the previous day in late May: "If you do not support same-sex marriage, you're labeled a homophobe and a hater.”
Navarro, who was a panelist and supports same-sex "marriage," had a blunt response to the GOP candidate's comments: "Frankly, they made me cringe. I am very uncomfortable and disappointed with him. ... I just don't think this kind of rhetoric -- stoking the flames -- is helpful."
And during a discussion on the Supreme Court's ruling in favor of same-sex marriage, CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer supposedly hosted a panel with two “bipartisan guests” who sounded more like liberals.
Even though the Wolf host stated that his guests had “different views” on the ruling, Navarro agreed with "centrist" Sophia Nelson:
I can tell you from a personal point of view I was full of celebration, there was joy in my heart. So many of my gay friends are going to be legitimized in a way that they so want to be.
And from a political perspective, I hope Republicans can move on, though I recognize that the religious freedom issue is a legitimate question.
Returning to the change.org petition, 500 votes are required to “win change in anything from local concerns to global issues.” As of Monday evening, 291 people had signed their support, so 209 more “signatures” are needed.
On Monday evening, Navarro replied to Trump's remarks: "Trump attacks me yet again. Oh so presidential. I'm really bored by it already. But chuckle knowing I irritate him."
Again, if you want to join Donald Trump in voting on this topic, click on this link to go to the petition website.
