As soon as The View announced that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was guesting this week, almost anyone who has watched the ABC talk show knew it was going to be an absolute train wreck.
And that was indeed the case, as the lengthy Monday sit-down kicked off with climate activists repeatedly interrupting the ultra-conservative lawmaker’s interview, prompting Whoopi Goldberg to shout down the hecklers and demand their exit.
Eventually, when they returned from a premature commercial break to deal with the demonstrators, the interview devolved into the standard off-the-rails shoutfest that most viewers likely expected—complete with rotating co-host Ana Navarro requesting that Cruz “lower your voice” during an especially heated exchange.
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After joking with Cruz about New York Yankees fans booing and flipping him off at Sunday night’s playoff game, The View’s panelists began the interview by discussing the upcoming midterm elections with the senator. While going back and forth with co-host Sara Haines about federal spending and the national debt, protesters in the crowd began chanting in unison.
“We do cover climate here, guys,” one of the hosts shot back before Goldberg interjected.
“Excuse me. Excuse me, ladies! Excuse us,” Goldberg yelled. “Let us do our job. Let us do our job. We hear what you have to say, but you gotta go! You gotta go! You got to let us do our job!”
As the audience applauded Goldberg taking charge, co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin joked with Cruz that “they weren’t even protesting you.” The senator, getting in on the action, said he took back what he said about Yankees fans and was “really glad you don't have a Van Gogh on the wall,” referencing recent climate change protests.
Co-host Sunny Hostin, meanwhile, explained that the hecklers were apparently accusing the hosts of not covering climate change—something she contended was untrue.
Hostin then confronted Cruz about the Republicans’ agenda and what he feels conservatives stand for now, leading him to proudly state “jobs, freedom, and security.” After he began predicting that the upcoming midterms will be a “tidal wave” for the GOP and that they’ll retake both chambers of Congress, the activists once again began shouting from the audience.
At this point, the control room muted out most of what the protesters were shouting as the hosts were clearly annoyed and the show quickly went to a commercial break.
“Three members of the audience interrupted The View today during Sen. Ted Cruz’s appearance protesting about climate,” an ABC News spokesperson told The Daily Beast in a statement. “They were promptly escorted out by security.”
After returning from break, the hosts apologized to Cruz for the commotion. “So we’re back with Sen. Ted Cruz. Yes, he came. He stayed,” Goldberg quipped.
“And listen, I have been very vocal and very critical of you, but I’m sorry that this has happened in our house,” Navarro added, to which Cruz replied: “All good.”
But the warm feelings didn’t last much longer.
Navarro, a longtime GOP strategist who has gained notoriety in recent years as a strident anti-Trump Republican, brought up former President Donald Trump’s litany of insults directed at Cruz during the 2016 GOP presidential primary, specifically Trump’s personal and conspiratorial attacks on Cruz’s family.
“I frankly don’t know how you get over your wife being called ugly. I don't know how you get over those kinds of calamities against your father,” Navarro wondered. “But you obviously have gotten over it, and today you sing a very different tune. Were you lying then or are you lying now?”
Calling it a “loaded question,” Cruz went on to excuse Trump’s comments about his family as part of primary politics, claiming that both his wife and father laughed them off in the end. From there, he praised Trump’s policies and said it was his job to represent Texans.
“Those are real results that make a real difference and I'm proud of that record. And why did I choose to work with him even though I was pissed off at what he said?” Cruz added. “Because I had a job to do and I had a responsibility.”
The conversation eventually flew off the rails when Cruz claimed it “happens not to be true” that Trump doesn’t respect the Justice Department and doesn’t recognize the power of a subpoena, prompting the Texas senator to snidely dismiss any observation to that effect as a “great talking point.”
“The Department of Justice and the FBI have been turned into partisan weapons to attack the political opponents of the Biden administration,” The Texas senator also declared during this exchange.
Over the final few minutes, the segment consisted largely of Cruz insisting Democrats were the real election deniers while the hosts pushed back that he and other Republicans tried to help Trump overturn the 2020 presidential election, despite the fact that there was no proof of widespread voter fraud and over 60 courts knocked down Trump’s legal efforts.
After dismissing the Jan. 6 violence by complaining about an “entire year of antifa riots,” Cruz eventually pulled out a printout containing quotes from prominent Democrats saying Trump is an “illegitimate president” and questioning the 2000 election results between George W. Bush and Al Gore.
“Joe Biden: Al Gore was elected president. So Joe Biden claims George W. Bush was illegitimate,” Cruz exclaimed while pointing at Navarro.
“You just said we don’t scream at each other, right?” Navarro shot back. “Or is it just you who gets to scream?”
Taking it down a notch, a chastened Cruz told the host she was right, only for Navarro to dig in just a little bit more.
“OK. Then lower your voice because we are very close to each other,” she continued. “I know you come here to sell a book and try to pick a fight, but we're not going to do that today.”
