'The View' Cast Reacts To WHCD Shooting
by Jada GomezBuzzFeedBuzzFeed StaffAs the Managing Editor of Streaming at BuzzFeed, I cover all things entertainment, and especially love to nerd out on all things Disney.
Today's episode of The View started with a somber tone, following the shooting incident at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday night.
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President Donald Trump and his cabinet officials were rushed from the event — that took place at the Washington Hilton — once shots were reportedly heard outside of the ballroom. The chaotic scene caused crowds of guests to run and hide under tables to find safety.
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No one was killed, and the suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, was taken into custody.
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The View hosts praised the Secret Service and DC law enforcement for acting so quickly, and were grateful that their colleagues and friends who attended the dinner were safe.
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"They acted swiftly, and they neutralized the threat," co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said. "I don’t think people realize in the moment, the threat was neutralized well before [the suspect] got near the ballroom," she said. "But when you hear shots ring out, I can just imagine, in this climate, in this culture we live in, how terrifying it is…it was completely chaotic.”
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“Just think, had Secret Service not jumped in, this could have been a mass casualty event," Alyssa continued. "We have been to this event many times. There are thousands of people crammed into a ballroom. You’re inches away from people around you. So we could be having a very different discussion today… We have a problem with political violence in this country… People are becoming desensitized to this."
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Ana Navarro commented on CNN journalist Wolf Blitzer's account of the scene — he said that he was just feet away from the shooter. “Wolf is a mentor, a close friend," Ana said. "And one of the most unflappable men on TV. Wolf is a guy who covers wars. I’ve seen him in tunnels with bombs falling, whose family survived and fled the Holocaust. And to hear Wolf talk about how scary this was, to hear Wolf say that he was three or four feet away from the shooter, got tackled down, that really hit me."
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“A good chunk of the country thinks this was staged," Ana continued. "I don’t think that. Let me just be clear. I don’t think that, but where are we in America? When Reagan was shot in 1981, nobody would have thought about that. I think people have to take stock of just the level of influence that misinformation, that the lies have had on the American psyche, that the first conclusion so many people reach, because of the polarization and because of some of the things that our elected officials have done, frankly."
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"It’s crazy to me that one of the first things Trump did after this…and his choir, is go push for a ballroom. And use this, instead of calling to our better angels and calling for unity, you sit to call for the building of his ballroom. School children have just as much a right to have safe schools as politicians to have a secure ballroom," she ended.
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“I think we should all be outraged that someone tried to allegedly kill the president of the United States, and members of his cabinet," Sunny Hostin said. "This political violence that is going on must be confronted. This divisiveness in this country, in terms of politics, must be confronted."
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"And what we also must confront is that our country is a country that has more guns than people," she continued. "More personal guns than people. So if we are not going to do something about the proliferation of guns, and about the lack of gun control in this country, then we must do something to protect our citizens, and we must do something to protect our political public servants. Because let’s remember, this guy got on a train with firearms, and was able to travel from California to Washington, DC, was able to check in to a hotel."
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"The fact that he was able to move about so easily with loaded firearms should be terrifying to us and should be, again, an inflection point in this country for gun control, for safety, and for us all to come together, as a people," Sunny continued.
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Whoopi Goldberg's comments were a lot briefer than her co-hosts, but to the point. “We talk about this all the time," she said. "We talk about guns, we say all this stuff, and then it goes away. People forget." Later in the broadcast, Whoopi stated: "This is not a left or right thing. This is just a bad situation. A really bad situation.”
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You can watch The View segment about the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting here.
> 'THE VIEW' CO-HOSTS REACT TO WHCD SHOOTING: The co-hosts weigh in on the chaos that descended Saturday night at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner after a lone shooter opened fire on Secret Service at a security checkpoint. pic.twitter.com/QMey6Oz