The co-hosts of “The View” blamed the “vitriol” in the country on President Donald Trump saying the “tone comes from the top.”
The comments came during a panel discussion Friday about which political party was to blame for the hateful comments being said about the other side.
They included a clip from a GOP ad called “Unhinged” showing members of the Democrat party using hateful rhetoric, including the call to action by Rep. Maxine Waters telling her supporters to harass members of the Trump cabinet when they are out in public.
“Well, there is a lot of hinged going around, unfortunately, but it starts from the top,” guest host Tara Setmayer said. “When you have a President of the United States that engages in unhinged behavior, then in it gives license to other people the idea to think that the coarsening of our dialogue is okay, and it’s not. Both sides aren’t necessarily owning it and saying stop this. At least some of that started to happen with the Maxine Water rebuke of what she said and they did that. But my party — Republicans — have really just rolled over and decided they would rather just be cult-like sycophants and just ignore what Donald Trump has done and this tone he has set. It’s embarrassing.”
Sunny Hostin agreed that the “tone has to come from the top” and said she doesn’t think “we have seen this type of vitriol before.”
Sarah Haines interjected, saying the tone was set during the campaign through the election but said she doesn’t “like it on either side.”
“The thing is I don’t like it on either side because some people will argue because of him, and because of all his awful rhetoric or his policies that we must rise up and take to the streets,” Haines explained. “I agree with speaking up and screaming loudly, but I don’t think it’s the most smartest way. It’s counterproductive. you say, ‘they did it first.’ That didn’t win on the playground, it’s not going to work here.”
“I’m also a Republican. I don’t consider myself in a cult. I don’t consider myself a sycophant,” Meghan McCain replied. “I just don’t suffer from Trump derangement syndrome. I’m not someone in the Republican party that lost my mind and can’t call balls and strikes like I see them.”
“His [Trump’s] two supreme court decisions, big wins for us,” she added. “He has made decisions that I agree with. When you are talking about vitriol, I’m sorry. my family has been at the direct target of that, and I understand that as well, but as commentators, we have to call balls and strikes like we see them. Because if you start turning into Trump, as some commentator in my own party have done, and you become him and you suffer from Trump derangement syndrome, everyone stops listening to each other one way or the other, and we have to be intellectually honest.”