Since the cohosts of The View have differing ideological backgrounds, they all know a thing or two about finding common ground — even if their topic discussions sometimes get testy in the process of meeting minds. So when the subject of Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman’s recent trip to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Donald Trump came up on Monday’s (January 13) episode, they brought that wisdom to the table and showed some surprisingly universal support for the move … but with one common complaint.
The panelists first reviewed a clip of Fetterman explaining his visit by saying, “This is going to be the president, and I am not just the senator for Democrats in Pennsylvania. I’m the senator for everyone in Pennsylvania, and my state picked Donald Trump as president. And if I have the opportunity to have that conversation, we’re gonna find things to work together for a better Pennsylvania and a better nation.”
In response to that, Sara Haines said simply, “Most common-sense answer I’ve ever heard.” She continued her praise of Fetterman’s rationale by saying, “You’re a senator heading into 13 hearings of confirmation… Your job on paper is to advise and consent. That’s all we ask, and that’s what he’s doing.”
Ana Navarro agreed in principle but had one big complaint about Fetterman’s trip, saying, “I have to say, I don’t like the optics of him going down to Mar-a-Lago because I think that’s become Donald Trump’s little palace, and it’s like trucking down to Mecca to see the prophet.” At the same time, though, she championed the “normal” nature of politicians, including presidents, working across the aisle, saying, “Ronald Reagan famously had a very good relationship with Tip O’Neill, who was the speaker of the House, a Democrat, when he was president. We saw Joe Biden work very closely with Mitt Romney, with Rob Portman, with many Republicans, to get bipartisan legislation passed.”
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Navarro then continued, “The problem is Donald Trump is not normal, and so what used to be normal becomes something that we talk about. I think John Fetterman, frankly, is right, but I hope that does not mean that he won’t call out the abuses of power, that he won’t criticize him when there is legitimate criticism.”
Alyssa Farah Griffin was more profuse in her praise for Fetterman, saying, “I’m such a fan of his. I think he’s such a straight-shooter… He is a Democrat, but he’s willing to critique his own and I think the tribalism of you cannot critique the person wearing the same journey jersey as you is unhelpful in our politics.” She went on to point out some of the common goals between Fetterman’s expressed policy positions and Trump’s and said his meeting may help advance those, which would be wise.
“I think I agree with that,” Sunny Hostin agreed, adding that she thinks he’s “brilliant.” While she agreed with Navarro’s point about the “optics” of trekking to Florida and “kissing the ring,” she thought Fetterman’s decision was “shrewd.”
The one thing Hostin took issue with, though, was Fetterman’s joke about asking Trump to name him “the pope of Greenland” as a reference to Trump’s controversially stated desire to purchase the sovereign nation.
“I want him to stop talking about Greenland. Greenland is not for sale. Why is Donald Trump talking about Greenland? You know why he’s talking about Greenland? Because it has oil and natural resources that are some of those resources are unique to China and Russia, and that’s what he wants,” Hostin contended. “He wants money. He wants the oil.”
This then introduced an all-new line of discussion about Trump’s reason for continuing to harp on Greenland — including sending his son Donald Trump Jr. to the country — but Whoopi Goldberg took a very different stance on the matter: “As long as we are not sending troops into anybody else’s sovereign nation, then he can talk all he wants to. As long as there are no troops heading to Panama, to Greenland, to Canada… Mexico. All of these are sovereign nations. And as long as they’re just talking, let ’em talk!”
The View, Weekdays, 11 a.m. ET, ABC
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