Florida Republican Rep. Byron Donalds is challenging the liberal co-hosts of “The View” to have him on as a guest after some of them bitterly complained about CNN’s decision to air a town hall in New Hampshire with former President Donald Trump.
In particular, co-host Sunny Hostin went on a tirade against CNN for allowing the broadcast, claiming, “I think that you don’t give a bigot, a racist, a misogynist, a liar, a cheater, a sexual abuser, and a defamer a platform of 3 million people, and I’m saddened.”
She also ripped CNN anchor Anderson Cooper who chided viewers over their criticism of the town hall, suggesting that only hearing one point of view all of the time is not helpful.
“You have every right to be outraged today and angry and never watch this network again. But do you think staying in your silo and only listening to people you agree with is going to make that person go away?”
“If we all only listen to those we agree with, it may actually do the opposite,” he concluded.
Hostin responded: “I used to work for CNN for quite some time, Anderson Cooper has been my friend for over 20 years, and I’m saddened that he tried to gaslight me yesterday.
“We know who this man is, we learned who this man is, and we did not need to see what we saw. I think that that town hall will be studied in journalism schools around the country as to what not to do. It was not fact-checked appropriately,” she complained.
Even reliably left-wing co-host Joy Behar responded that because Trump is the GOP frontrunner, it is appropriate for CNN to engage with him.
But it was Hostin’s remarks that left Donalds incredulous.
“Sunny Hostin and people on the left like her, that demonstrates her authoritarian mindset. Where she wants to tell everybody she believes in democracy, well, part of our democracy is being able to speak and not being shut down,” Donalds told Fox News last week, per the Western Journal.
“Sunny doesn’t want that, and unfortunately, too many people on the left, they don’t want a debate, they don’t want to have all voices heard, they want to pick and choose who gets heard. That’s an authoritarian mindset,” he added.
In a tweet containing a video clip of his Fox interview, Donalds wrote, “Sunny and people on the Left like her demonstrate the authoritarian mindset of shutting down their opposition and choosing who has a voice. The party of ‘saving democracy’ is really the party of authoritarianism.”
He also issued a challenge, saying, “Sunny, invite me to The View and let’s talk.”
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