By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-18 22:07:02 | Updated at 2024-11-19 00:48:19
2 hours ago
The View's Ana Navarro unleashed a blistering on-air tirade in response to Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski's surprise visit to Mar-a-Lago over the weekend.
The 52-year-old political strategist tore into the married MSNBC anchors over their trip to see Donald Trump, calling it 'opportunistic' during her rant.
She also panned the president-elect, chiding him for holding court at his famed Florida compound where he welcomed members of the media. Of the progressive pair, she asked whether the two had 'change[d] their stripes' because of 'who's in power.'
A few hours earlier, the Morning Joe hosts revealed that they had traveled 'personally' to meet Trump on Friday, after openly criticizing him in the weeks, months, and years prior.
The reason for the visit, they said, was to 'restart communications' with the Trump administration before the president-elect retakes office.
The two also touted a 'new approach' to coverage surrounding Trump's second term, eliciting a fiery response from not only Navarro, but her co-host, Sunny Hostin.
Both women said they disapproved of the visit, with Navarro leading the charge.
The discourse came as commentators and analysts continue to discuss the election result, often in a negative light - and amid waning ratings for MSNBC.
The View's Ana Navarro unleashed a blistering on-air tirade in response to Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski's surprise visit to Mar-a-Lago
The 52-year-old political strategist tore into the married MSNBC anchors for the trip, which they revealed to the public only hours earlier
'In 2016, people voted for the unknown and voted thinking that maybe the gravitas of the office was going to change him,' Navarro began.
'In 2024 people voted knowing who he was.'
Referencing Trump's recent rush of cabinet picks, she declared: 'Nothing that he is doing - as concerning as I find it and as disturbing as I find it - should be shocking.
'He told us he was going to do these things.'
'He was surrounded by the people he's appointing,' she continued. 'And he is keeping to his word and people voted for him knowing that.'
That's when Navarro turned to the topic at-hand - Scarborough and Brzezinski's impromptu visit.
The bombshell appeared to be on each of the panelists' minds, with Hostin, 56, bringing it up earlier in the broadcast.
Navarro, a Republican who was part of the transition team for then-Florida Gov. (and eventual Trump opponent) Jeb Bush, brought it back up after complaining about how 'hard' it is 'to criticize and denounce [the president-elect's] abuses of power.'
The episode saw the Republican strategist openly pan the president-elect, chiding him for holding court at his famed Florida compound
Of the progressive pair, Navarro asked whether the two had 'change[d] their stripes' because of 'who's in power'
'We have been there before,' she said, pointing to Trump's first term.
'It means threats, it means death threats, it means retribution against your family, it means crazy things showing up at your house, it means lawsuits - it means all sorts of things.
'We've done it before and if we have to do it again, we will do so again,' she continued, before bringing up the progressive power couple.
'There are probably a lot of people looking at what Joe and Mika did and find it opportunistic.
'There are people who change their stripes or maybe their spots depending on who's in power - I don't know if that's what happening with them.
'Everybody has to live with their decisions, everybody has to look in the mirror - I'm good,' she eventually concluded.
At another point, she added how 'it's a sobering truth... to reconcile with what we [on The View] have been doing for the last eight years.
'I will never sit down with him,' she said of Trump.
'There are probably a lot of people looking at what Joe and Mika did and find it opportunistic,' Navarro said
Navarro and her co-hosts had all supported Kamala Harris, and even had her on the air in a bid to get more votes
'[A]nd I don't think I'm gonna have to make that decision because I don't think I'll ever get invited.'
The latter assertion appeared to be in reference to her other on-air barbs aimed at the former president, whose supporters she has painted as unforgivable.
Just last month, the Republican strategist appeared offended by the mere idea that she'd ever associate with him, after Trump said he knew 'every one' of the hosts personally.
The Nicaraguan-born star has shamed other Latin Americans for voting for him, much like MSNBC's Joy Reid and other personalities on the network.
Her problems with the president-elect appear to stem from his policies surrounding the border - something that appeared to sway Latino voters toward Trump earlier this month.
The president-elect emphatically beat Kamala Kamala Harris after being backed by 46 percent of the demographic - the most from any Republican in modern history.
The result surprised some, including Navarro, who on Monday received backup from a more moderate Hostin, who painted the meeting as not only pandering but an 'aberration.'
Navarro received some backup from a more moderate Sunny Hostin, who painted the meeting as not only pandering but an 'aberration'
The Morning Joe hosts and the president-elect met at Mar-a-Lago on Friday
'The bottom line,' she began, 'is that America needs a free press that is willing to speak truth to power right now more than ever.
'I think we have to be very clear on it when we think about the president-elect and cover the president-elect, and I don't think you need to sit down for 90 minutes at Mar-a-Lago and kiss his ring to be able to speak truth and be able to cover a story.'
The ABC News legal analyst further claimed that Scarborough and Brzezinski were 'not journalists in the true sense' but 'opinion journalists.'
'You have to remember that Trump is the guy who ushered in the era of fake news, he's the guy who ushered in alternative facts, he is the guy who attacked three black female journalists,' she continued, before offering a defiant conclusion.
'I don't think he can be trusted in the way that other presidents could be trusted. This is an aberration.'
As for longtime host Whoopi Goldberg, also an outspoken Trump critic, she took a more measured approach to Trump's ongoing relationship with the media - despite still referring to the conservative as 'You Know Who.'
'I'm going to wait to see what I'm dealing with,' the 69-year-old Democrat said.
'I'm going to have some popcorn and if I have something to say, I will say it.
As for longtime host Whoopi Goldberg, who also an outspoken Trump critic, she took a more 'wait-and-see' approach to Trump's ongoing relationship with the media - despite still referring to the conservative as 'You Know Who'
The two remaining panelists, Sara Haines and Republican Alyssa Farah Griffin, took a different stance - choosing to praise the meeting as a welcome first step in improving relations with the soon-to-be two-term president
The discourse comes as commentators and analysts continue to discuss the result in a negative light, and amid waning rating for MSNBC. Pictured, Scarborough and Brzezinski's colleague Rachel Maddow reacting to the Harris loss
'To predict what we're going to do is impossible to say. I want to see what we're up against, I want to see what will happen.'
The two remaining panelists, Sara Haines and Republican Alyssa Farah Griffin, took a different stance, choosing to praise the meeting as a welcome first step in improving relations with the soon-to-be two-term president.
'You have the conversations or nothing happens,' Haines, 47, said.
Griffin, a Republican who had supported Harris, added: 'I don't think this is opportunistic, but I think they recognize that 75 million people voted for this guy.
'He will be in power, short of something like an impeachment, for the next four years.'
Meanwhile, MSNBC's ratings are in the tank following the landslide election result, with the network's numbers down from 6million daily viewers on Election Day to just 596,000 the following Thursday, Nielsen numbers showed.
It also comes as commentators and analysts continue to discuss the result - often with rants laced with ire toward the conservative - and weeks after the hosts had Harris on as a guest in an apparent bid to get more votes.
The New York Post went on to report how ABC News execs are now searching for a conservative, pro-Trump voice to join the panel - to drown out the chorus of boos.
