The first segment of “The View” on Monday ended in a heated clash between Whoopi Goldberg and Ana Navarro, as the ABC hosts debated just how panicked people should be about Donald Trump’s second term.
The discussion started as the women broke down the president-elect’s weekend appearance on “Meet the Press,” where he made more threats against various institutions and people he dislikes, specifically saying that the Jan. 6 investigative committee should be thrown in jail.
When pressed on whether he’d specifically direct his choice to lead the FBI to send them to jail, though, Trump said he wouldn’t.
“He’s telling them to do it through ‘Meet the Press,’ if he hasn’t done it in private already,” Navarro argued. “And he’s appointing people who are 100% loyal to him, and who know that if they want to keep their jobs, they have to do what he wants them to do. So when Donald Trump says something, believe him people, believe him. There’s nothing to wait for.”
As the segment wound down, moderator Whoopi reiterated a regular opinion of hers: encouraging people not to panic about what Trump is actually going to do just yet.
“Listen, he makes lots and lots and lots of noise, he says he’s going to do all these things, and he does this — and I say this, I try to say it at least once a week — he does this to keep you all in a panic,” she said.
“All we have to do, from now until Jan. 21, is be with our families, be with our kids, do our jobs, make sure our checks don’t bounce, make sure that we are taking care of ourselves and our families,” Whoopi added. “Whatever he’s going to do, he’s going to do. But do take our word for it, things seem to move slowly.”
Navarro pushed back on that though, noting that she had told Whoopi already last week that she disagrees with that idea since there are groups of people who will be significantly more targeted than others.
“We have the luxury of saying that, because we’re legal, we are successful — if you’re an illegal immigrant in this country, you’re not going to be not in a panic,” she said. “If you are a woman working for the Department of Defense, you have a right to be in a panic!”
“Ana! You tell people to stay fraught and like this,” Whoopi cut her off. “That is not…”
“No, I’m telling people to prepare, Whoopi!” Navarro fired back.
The two continued to talk over each other, with Navarro adding that “winter is coming” and that it’s perfectly understandable for people to be scared.
“You know what? I’m sorry, winter is here,” Whoopi retorted. “Winter’s been with us, and my point is, we can lay down and do nothing for the next 15 days and then be freaking out for the next four or two years.”
“We are in a privileged position that a lot of people who are going to be under his attack are not,” Navarro reiterated as the show went to commercial break.
“The View” airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.