Sara Haines put Sunny Hostin on blast for her “narrow view” on politics on this morning’s episode of The View.
The taping opened with a Hot Topics discussion about former President Joe Biden‘s ex-press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre leaving the Democratic Party to become an independent voter. For Haines, who’s identified as an independent for more than two decades, Jean-Pierre’s decision was a “more honest political take.”
“I think it’s time for politicians to sell themselves completely to someone consuming what they have to offer and not worrying about jersey-wearing partisan politics and tribalism,” Haines argued.
When Joy Behar questioned if that meant Jean-Pierre would someday vote Republican, Haines told the comedian that she was “simplifying” things.
“Usually, an independent leans one way. I have voted left for 25 years but I don’t identify a Democrat because the Democrats don’t stand for everything [I stand for],” Haines said. “I wait to see the candidates. And if the Republicans ever put up a candidate that I was like, ‘That’s my person,’ in a heartbeat, I would vote for them.”
Hostin, on the other hand, couldn’t relate to Haines in the era of President Donald Trump.
“That makes a lot of sense to me given what the Republican Party used to be. This is the Trump party. This is very different to me, in my view,” Hostin said, before adding, “With the Trumplican Party the way that it is, this argument just doesn’t make sense to me.”
Haines called out Hostin’s “narrow view” on the matter, but the former prosecutor quickly fired back, “The Republican Party doesn’t exist as it did before.”
Still, Haines stood firm in her beliefs.
“My point here is the blind loyalty,” she said. “The second I sat here at this desk and said I feel President Biden should step down, the hate I got was not from the right, it was from the left. To me, the reason I’m an independent is to say, ‘I call them like I see them and I hope you do, too.’ Because that’s the way the system should work.”
The View airs on weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.