The hosts of “The View” were pretty split on Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s announcement that she is leaving the Democratic party on Friday morning. While some argued that it made sense, others said it underscores that “she seems to be an obstructionist.”
Sinema said she will be registering as an Independent going forward, rather than a Democrat, calling the decision “a reflection of who I’ve always been.” Sinema added that “Nothing’s gonna change for me. And I don’t think anything’s gonna change for Arizona.” But, many are calling the move a detriment to the Democratic party that weakens its newly expanded control over the Senate.
Host Joy Behar was baffled by Sinema’s decision though, marveling at the fact that she somehow can’t decide between the two core parties.
“It’s an interesting thing that she’s going through in her head. It’s like,’OK, this party has nothing. They have nothing. No platform, nothing that — all they do is hang out with Nazis, and white supremacists,” Behar mocked. “And the other party actually is doing something for people like us, for the working families, for gay people, for voting rights, and then she’s like, ‘What should I do?’”
Host Ana Navarro honed in on Sinema’s claim that her registering as an Independent is also a “reflection of who Arizona is,” and fired back that, in actuality, “this is a reflection of the fact that she was about to lose the primary.”
“I think she saw the writing on the wall,” Navarro said. “And this tells me that she’s gonna run for reelection, and she’s gonna try to run as an Independent.”
But, host Alyssa Farah Griffin was a dissenting voice at the table, along with Sara Haines. While Haines questioned the timing of Sinema’s announcement — considering Democrats just gained extended control of the Senate with Raphael Warnock’s win on Tuesday — she admitted that “I think the whole idea of coming more to the center is actually more in touch with the pulse of the country.”
Farah Griffin added that she thinks “we demonize moderation too much” and that the Biden administration owes more to Sinema than people think.
“She’s somebody who, she marches to the beat of her own drum,” Farah Griffin said. “I think it is a good thing when people realize that working across the aisle is actually the only way you make lasting change. If you do things purely on partisan lines, the parties are going to flip, the Congress will flip, and then the next party in power will come and undo all the work that you did. She is working for lasting change on the policy she cares about not just partisan change.”
And, when Farah Griffin pointed out that Sinema typically votes with Biden, Behar chimed in that “she seems to be an obstructionist in many ways” though.
You can watch the full discussion from “The View” in the video above.