The hosts of The View are incensed over the president’s declaration that he’d be willing to let Iran destroy San Diego or Los Angeles.
He’s “basically inviting this regime to come out and take two American cities,” co-host Ana Navarro said. “We cannot normalize the unhinged, deranged, manic, evil, outrageous behavior by the president of the United States.”
Whoopi Goldberg added, “How has this not enraged people in government? I mean, this is supposed to be the president of the United States. And they say, ‘Oh, no, he’s kidding.’ He doesn’t sound like he’s kidding.”
“Why isn’t anybody on fire that this man is talking about states in his own country?” she asked.
The outrage follows Trump’s Monday remarks at a midterm rally in Nebraska, during which he said, “They can take out a city. Let them take it. Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom slammed the comments as “deranged and dangerous.” The mayors of L.A. and San Diego have also denounced the president’s “reckless” commentary.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said in a statement, “The media freakout over President Trump’s comments is not rooted in reality. He was clearly stating U.S. cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped. America is safer because of the president. Iran has no nuclear, no navy, no air force, and no money.”
Navarro took aim at the statement for making Trump’s declaration a “lighthearted thing,” adding, “The question is, how are the Iranians going to treat it? I think shame on us if we forget about this tomorrow because we cannot normalize the unhinged, deranged, manic, evil, outrageous behavior by the president of the United States.”
Former White House Communications Director and co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin called Trump’s comments “absolute madness,” and lamented, “We’re so used to it that, by tomorrow, no one’s going to remember that he said it.”
Added Navarro, “Shame on us if we forget about this tomorrow.”
But co-host Sunny Hostin went even further, suggesting the comments warrant Trump’s removal from office. “We’re talking about 10 million Americans,” she said. “I think it’s time for people to start taking seriously the possibility of maybe the 25th Amendment.”
