Wednesday on ABC’s The View the panel blasted Trump for honoring the widow of a fallen Navy SEAL at last night’s address before Congress. Host Sunny Hostin had the harshest take, calling the move “exploitative,” even blaming Trump for the veteran’s death.
The segment began with host Whoopi Goldberg playing the clip of the nearly 2-minute long standing ovation last night for Navy SEAL Ryan Owens and his widow, Carryn, who was invited as a guest by President Trump. While many in the media applauded this move, the View hosts took the action as the president using Owens as a “prop.”
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Now, just hour before this, before the speech, he blamed U.S. generals for Ryan's death, saying, and I quote, “They lost Ryan.” You know, that mission could -- you know, that mission could have not have happened without presidential approval which is why President Obama never gave the go-ahead because he felt that it wasn’t good enough to send our people in. So, was this a tribute or was this damage control?
SUNNY HOSTIN: It was something that really struck me about the night. As you know, my brother that I grew up, my cousin was injured in the army. He's been to the show. We were raised like siblings. Yeah, you’ve met him. And he lost his hand and he lost his face serving our country. So many of my family members are in the military. I thought that was so exploitive. I thought he exploited that widow. It was so hurtful to me. Because we know that U.S. military officials have said to the press that Obama didn't give the green light because he felt that the mission would mark a significant escalation in Yemen. And President Trump, without the intel, without the appropriate ground support, approved this at dinner, while not in the situation room and was tweeting. So when I look at that, I think, my God, how do you exploit the woman who's grieving over the loss of her husband, the father of her children, when you sent him there without the appropriate ground support? [ Applause ] That was wrong.
Host Jedediah Bila agreed, adding that Owens died in vain because the intelligence that he got wasn’t “even helpful.”
JEDEDIAH BILA: Also the intelligence that they got. It's been very heavily disputed whether the intelligence they got was even helpful at all. I mean, he’s saying there was an active intelligence. Other people are saying the intelligence--they really didn’t get anything out of it.
Later, Bila complained that she didn’t like when either side of the aisle used people as “props” to pass legislation. Ironically, the hosts never brought up Khizr Khan whose son was killed in the Iraq War and became a political prop of sorts for the left. Even more ironic, the hosts cheered Khan when he spoke out against Trump at the DNC and on multiple news programs.
The View hosts weren’t alone in bashing Trump for honoring Owens and his wife. Actress Debra Messing and comedian Patton Oswalt also reacted strongly on Twitter:
His negligence caused her husbands death & DT says he's happy in heaven because he won a clapping contest? I thought it was horrifying. https://t.co/OYz4hPb4SR
— Debra Messing (@DebraMessing) March 1, 2017
I cannot STAND draft-dodgers sending men to their deaths and then exploiting the grieving aftermath. Fuck you, Donald. #JointAddress
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) March 1, 2017
Later on Hostin threw a small hissy fit over Trump’s use of term “illegal immigrant,” after having a similar outburst on Tuesday’s show.
HOSTIN: And one thing I just want to say, this illegal alien term that we keep on hearing, that term is driving me crazy. Crimes are illegal. Human beings, are not. We need to call people undocumented immigrants.
