At least one The View host thinks there’s a possibility that Trump’s run-in with an attempted assassin this past weekend could be a “wake up call” to tone down his rhetoric.
On Monday’s episode of the talk show, co-host Sara Haines shared her hope that Trump’s being shot at may cause him to ease up on his usual intensity and divisive tone, as the former president has said he will amend his RNC remarks to be less divisive.
“We already heard that President Trump has changed his remarks at the RNC to have a more unifying tone,” Haines said. “Stranger things have happened. People that have illnesses or near-death experiences—sometimes that can be a wake up call to change things so I really hope this is a lasting thing.”
The other hosts agreed that the aftermath of the attempt on Trump’s life was a good time for Americans to reflect on how we talk about politics in this country and turn down the temperature—but Haines seemed alone in her thinking that the incident would have a lasting effect on Trump. Further hopes reflected at the table were reserved for more legislative action on gun control.
“I’d like to think that the issue of gun control will resonate now more and but rather than that, I think what’s gonna happen is we’re gonna have more of that rhetoric of ‘had there only been more good guys with guns, this may not have happened,’” Sunny Hostin said in a subsequent segment. “My guess is they're gonna say, ‘Secret Service screwed up, if there were other people with guns…’ And I think that gun ownership, probably because of this event, [will] go up in this country instead of going down.”
Joy Behar, who usually delivers most of the incendiary remarks against Trump, stuck to stating the facts of the incident and expressing condolences for the families of those injured at the rally. She described the incident “a disturbing weekend of political violence.” Whoopi Goldberg remained absent due to COVID, Behar also shared.
“I know everybody always says it’s too soon to talk about guns and because there has been a terrible death of a father of two, that thoughts and prayers should be where we go,” Hostin added. “I say no—I say now is the time to talk about the common denominator when it came to [Trump’s] assassination attempt, which is America’s fascination and obsession with owning guns.”