The hosts of ABC’s “The View” made it clear on Tuesday’s show that they were fine with inflammatory rhetoric as long as it was aimed at people or parties they disliked — primarily Republicans and former President Donald Trump.
In the face of multiple calls from both sides — and even from President Joe Biden, who claimed that it was only Republicans who were guilty of such incendiary rhetoric — to “lower the temperature” of American political discussions, the hosts argued that because they believed themselves to be “calling out the truth” it wasn’t important that they were feeding into the very divisiveness they complained about.
“I just think that calling out the truth is not turning up the heat, right?” co-host Sunny Hostin said, claiming that Biden was right when he said it was fine to call Trump evil and an existential threat while demanding that Republicans tone things down. “Tone matters, words matter, but facts matter too.”
WATCH:
The View defends using incendiary and inciting rhetoric against Trump even after it led to an assassination attempt.
Sunny Hostin: “I just think that calling out the truth is not turning up the heat, right…Tone matters, words matter but facts matter too.” pic.twitter.com/sUgBTeFSbm— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) July 16, 2024
Co-host Sara Haines argued that “intention” mattered more than tone, saying she too believed it was telling the truth to attack Republicans and only inflammatory if it was directed at Democrats. “It’s not we’ve got to storm the Capitol. Like, there’s a difference…I see a very clear difference in the rhetoric.”
WATCH:
Faux conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin say Trump is the one who needs to show he can tamp down the rhetoric: “It’s an opportunity for the former president to take the temperature down on Thursday and show that…he’s capable of that.
“Whoopi says he’lll lose his mind again. pic.twitter.com/xVsMAQx6ld— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) July 16, 2024
Alyssa Farah Griffin, a self-described Republican who previously worked in the Trump administration, made no mention of Biden’s incendiary comments and argued that the burden was on Trump — who had survived an assassination attempt just days earlier — to make the first move in lowering the temperature.
“It’s an opportunity for the former president to take the temperature down on Thursday and show that…he’s capable of that,” she said.
