Since the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was one of the biggest news stories all week, it was only a matter of time before one of the cast members of ABC’s The View said something abhorrent. On Friday, despite claiming she was against the violence, co-host Sunny Hostin highlighted some of the ghoulish social media comments mocking the murder and stoked fear of how Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could damage healthcare in America.
Meanwhile, co-host Ana Navarro pointed to how at least one positive change had occurred since the targeted killing.
Near the top of the segment, Hostin wanted to draw attention to some of the heinous comments made on social media, without condemning them:
I was looking at some of the social media comments and try to stay away from social media but it said – Some of the comments were, “thoughts and deductibles to the family.” One of the comments was, “unfortunately, my condolences are out of network.”
“Isn't that something?” she gawked, “I really think it's reflective about how people are feeling about their healthcare.”
Later in the segment, Navarro remarked that the assassination “has definitely shined light on our health crisis” and seemed to tout how Blue Cross Blue Shield had reneged on an unpopular new policy shortly after the assassination of Thompson:
Yesterday, Blue Cross Blue Shield which had announced that they were going to only cover anesthesia for X amount and if the operation went overtime, they were not going to cover it. So let's say you were having an open heart surgery and instead of it being four hours, it was six, they were going to cut off paying for anesthesia after four hours, which is ghoulish. They reversed course on that announcement that they had made. So, I think this has definitely shined light on our health crisis.
Following up Hostin, co-Host Sara Haines went after the assassin. “The sheer stupidity that people would turn to violence and think they're effectuating change is the most ghastly part of this,” she said. “And that someone would take it upon a subject and target that person as if you're going to change any system. You're not, dude. You're not going to change anything.”
Haines also condemned the social media comments saying, “I have a disgusting sense of humor and not one of these that I read – It actually made me feel so sad. It’s not even just that he's a father and has kids, he’s a human.”
“Yeah. It wasn’t funny,” Hostin agreed after the fact.
Anti-Trump Republican Alyssa Farah Griffin also denounced the social media comments and seemed to reference the pro-assassination celebration from deranged leftist journalist Taylor Lorenz.
“But I too was so disturbed, I saw some prominent figures on the far-left who were celebrating this. And we have lost our collective conscience,” she began to say before Joy Behar interrupted to ask: “How do you know that?” “Cause they’re known,” Haines shot back. Farah Griffin continued to rail against the comments:
I'm not even going to amplify and say who because it is ghoulish, it is disgusting, it is evil. If you want to effect change in this country, it is a democracy; organize, activate, get out and talk to people, talk your congressman. Violence is absolutely never the answer and to single out one individual because you have an issue with a company, a corporation, or an entire industry that’s been fraught for decades. It’s horrible.”
Of course, Behar wanted to try to smear Republicans with the shooting. She warned: “They have no interest at all in [fixing healthcare].” Farah Griffin actually stood up to her and pointed out that, “we complain about our healthcare right now, we're living under Obamacare. Obamacare ain't perfect either. It actually created monopolies in the healthcare system.”
“But we have nothing better!” Behar desperately tried to counter.
Hostin’s other take about the assassination was about stoking fear against Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about how he would make healthcare in America worse:
But what I'm nervous about is if you read Project 2025, which is probably going to be the plan for healthcare, it's about privatization. It's about sort of getting rid of the at least limited amount of sort of universal healthcare that we have. And RFK Jr. really is more into holistic things so I wonder, you know, if you don't believe in true med – in conventional medicine, what kind of medical system are we going to have?
Hostin claims she hopes that the BCBS decision wasn't influenced by the assassination.
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) December 6, 2024
"I'm not sure I would guarantee anything," Navarro said. pic.twitter.com/fWrnY0Q4ax
“If you're angry at what's happening now, I'm nervous about what could happen,” she proclaimed.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
December 6, 2024
11:04:25 a.m. Eastern(…)
SUNNY HOSTIN: I was looking at some of the social media comments and try to stay away from social media but it said – Some of the comments were, “thoughts and deductibles to the family.” One of the comments was, “unfortunately, my condolences are out of network.” And so I think it really -- Isn't that something? I really think it's reflective about how people are feeling about their healthcare.
And if you look at this particular CEO, while he made about $10 million a year which is not actually unusual for a CEO of a company this size, this particular health company, UnitedHealthcare is the largest responsible for Medicare programs for people over the age of 65.
And our country is one of the only countries that doesn't have universal health care and we don't take care of our elderly. And people are feeling the pinch. We talk about that all the time. And I think people are really angry at the health care system and unfortunately, it's translating to this father.
SARA HAINES: The sheer stupidity that people would turn to violence and think they're effectuating change is the most ghastly part of this. Because it’s not the humor – there are people thinking they're funny. There are people writing things. I have a disgusting sense of humor and not one of these that I read –
HOSITN: Yeah. It wasn’t funny.
HAINES: It actually made me feel so sad. It’s not even just that he's a father and has kids, he’s a human.
HOSTIN: Yeah
HAINES: And that someone would take it upon a subject and target that person as if you're going to change any system. You're not, dude. You're not going to change anything.
JOY BEHAR: But we don't know if that's it. It could be a red herring. There could be some other thing going on.
[Crosstalk]
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: We don’t necessarily know
HAINES: We don't know but it was an assassination.
[Crosstalk]
HAINES: It had messaging on it and everything else.
BEHAR: But that could be part of the red herring.
HAINES: Joy, wait.
BEHAR: Sorry, go ahead.
HAINES: There's a corporate greed problem in this country that is not just unique to healthcare. It's everywhere where the haves and have-nots have never been further apart.
HOSTIN: Yes.
HAINES: And the rage is understandable and real. Never to this level, but the problem is, you knocked out this poor man, someone else is coming up. We just -- there was just that – remember? Colman Domingo's madness?
HOSITN: Yes. Yes.
HAINES: I won't ruin the ending, it’s an amazing series. But there's a one-on-one scene where the CEO is there and Colman Domingo's character has so much rage at him, and he said, ‘You knock me out, one more pops up. I'm a puppet in the machine.’ So, to think that you can transform that machine by killing that soul's moment here on Earth is the most disturbing part of this story.
FARAH GRIFFIN: Thank you all for saying that, because I think thoughts and prayers go out to his family. This is a husband, this is a father and --
HAINES: He’s a son.
FARAH GRIFFIN: Violence is absolutely never the answer. And I think it was shocking because it happened in Midtown where every one of us walked, it was the morning while commuting into work, and then there is this manhunt afterward.
I think there’s a good sense of the motive. We could learn more. It could be a red herring. But I too was so disturbed, I saw some prominent figures on the far-left who were celebrating this. And we have lost our collective conscience --
BEHAR: How do you know that?
HAINES: Cause they’re known.
FARAH GRIFFIN: I'm not even going to amplify and say who because it is ghoulish, it is disgusting, it is evil. If you want to effect change in this country, it is a democracy; organize, activate, get out and talk to people, talk your congressman. Violence is absolutely never the answer and to single out one individual because you have an issue with a company, a corporation, or an entire industry that’s been fraught for decades. It’s horrible.
BEHAR: And I would add, don't vote for Republicans because they want to overthrow Obamacare.
[Crosstalk]
BEHAR: They have no interest at all in this particular –
FARAH GRIFFIN: But respectfully, we complain about our healthcare right now, we're living under Obamacare. Obamacare ain't perfect either. It actually created monopolies in the healthcare system.
BEHAR: But we have nothing better!
HOSTIN: But the thing is it’s the thing that's come closest to universal healthcare.
My fear also when I was reading about this story is that, you know, we're going to have RFK Jr. responsible for Health and Human Services, who has a brain worm, but he's also –
[Laughter]
It's not just the brain worm-
HAINES: Wait, legal note! I think the worm I gone now.
HOSTIN: No, I think it got encapsulated in his brain, I went down a rabbit hole an that.
FARAH GRIFFIN: A worm hole, if you will!
HOSTIN: Yeah, a worm hole if you will!
But what I'm nervous about is if you read Project 2025, which is probably going to be the plan for healthcare, it's about privatization. It's about sort of getting rid of the at least limited amount of sort of universal healthcare that we have. And RFK Jr. Really is more into holistic things so I wonder, you know, if you don't believe in true med – in conventional medicine, what kind of medical system are we going to have?
BEHAR: I don't know.
HOSTIN: If you're angry at what's happening now, I'm nervous about what could happen.
(…)
11:09:12 a.m. Eastern
ANA NAVARRO: Yesterday, Blue Cross Blue Shield which had announced that they were going to only cover anesthesia for X amount and if the operation went overtime, they were not going to cover it. So let's say you were having an open heart surgery and instead of it being four hours, it was six, they were going to cut off paying for anesthesia after four hours, which is ghoulish. They reversed course on that announcement that they had made. So, I think this has definitely shined light on our health crisis.
(…)
