The View host Ana Navarro was stunned by the number of Americans who believe the shooting at Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner was “staged.”
“I’ll tell you what really hit me, though, was later that night when I was on social media or the next morning,” Navarro, 54, remarked on Monday’s show. “A good chunk of the country thinks this was staged.”
“I don’t think that. Let me just be clear. I don’t think that,” she continued. “But where are we in America? When Reagan was shot in 1981, nobody would have thought about that. And so I think people have to take stock of just the level of influence that misinformation, that the lies have had on the American psyche, that the first conclusion so many people reach because of the polarization and because of some of the things that our elected officials have done.”
When Trump was asked directly about the conspiracy theories on 60 Minutes Sunday night, he replied, “I haven’t heard that last night didn’t happen... usually takes a little bit longer. Usually, they wait about two or three months to start saying that.”
The political commentator, who has supported Republican candidates in the past but is a strong critic of Trump, then turned her criticism to the 79-year-old president.
In the direct aftermath of the shooting, Trump used a White House briefing to promote the building of his ballroom. He suggested that the Correspondents’ Dinner, which was held at the Washington Hilton, was not secure enough, and that his plans for the White House additions are, therefore, crucial.
“We looked at all of the conditions that took place tonight, and I will say, you know, it’s not a particularly secure building,” Trump told reporters.
“This is why we have to have all of the attributes of what we’re planning at the White House. It’s actually a larger room, and it’s much more secure. It’s got gunproof, it’s bulletproof glass,” he said.
Navarro called this reaction “crazy.”
“Frankly, it’s crazy to me that one of the first things Trump did after this was… go push for a ballroom and use this–instead of calling to a better angel and calling for unity–use it to call for the building of his ballroom,” she told her fellow panelists.
“I just think school children have as much a right to have safe schools as politicians,” she added to applause.
The other panelists also shared their views on the event, explaining that they had attended the dinner over the years. Sunny Hostin, 57, built off Navarro’s point, but added, “I think we should all be outraged that someone tried to allegedly kill the president of the United States and members of his Cabinet,” she said. “This political violence that is going on must be confronted...”
“What we also must confront is that our country is a country that has more guns than people–personal guns than people,” she said, condemning the lack of gun control in the country.
Navarro further condemned claims that “the left” could be held responsible for the attempt at violence and called Trump the “biggest bully” in the landscape of politics. The TV host then suggested that Saturday’s incident should be a catalyst for change when it comes to gun violence in the country.
“If we’re going to be honest about this, the heated political rhetoric is going on on both sides. Look, just last week, after Trump was attacking the pope, the pope’s brother, who lives in Chicago, who lives in Illinois, had a bomb threat at his house,” she said. “So this is a moment for people to take stock on what we can do and on what the people we support and like can do, not just the people that we don’t like and support are doing, and we shouldn’t be getting into a contest of who’s better or who’s worse.”
“But the one thing that we can’t argue about is that the guy with the biggest bully pulpit is Donald Trump,” Navarro continued, “And I beg of him, after three close calls, to take time to reflect and give us an example, lead by example.”
The View co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin, 36, agreed, saying, “We have a problem with political violence in this country,” and added, “people are getting desensitized to this.” She urged leaders to develop “actual solutions” to the radicalization of people and politics in the country.
On Saturday, Trump attended the annual press dinner for the first time during his presidency, during which a gunman tried to storm the event. The suspected gunman, Cole Thomas Allen, 31, opened fire near a security checkpoint at the event and was subsequently tackled by Secret Service agents. A federal agent was hit by gunfire but saved by his bulletproof vest.
Trump and members of his administration were evacuated from the premises as chaos erupted.
Allen is now facing two charges: assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon and using a firearm during a crime of violence. He is being formally charged in federal court on Monday. In his 1,052-word manifesto, the Caltech graduate outlined his plans to kill Trump officials.
