Ana Navarro, a co-host of ABC’s The View, said during Monday’s broadcast that there is no place for political violence in the United States and criticized President Donald Trump’s response to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Navarro, speaking about the killing on a Utah campus last week, rebuked comments by Trump blaming “the radicals on the left” and questioned why the president has shown a different level of public attention for other high-profile killings. “I would like to say that I was disappointed in what Donald Trump said but I’m not, because that’s who he is and that’s who he’s always been in times like this,” Navarro said, adding that the same energy was not evident when, earlier this year, former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, her husband and their dog were killed.
Navarro acknowledged that many people found some of Kirk’s rhetoric “inflammatory,” citing Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s characterization of his speech, but said that disagreement about ideas does not justify violence. “A lot of people are out there trying to portray Charlie Kirk as if he was spreading pixie dust around the country,” she said. “A lot of people, to use the word of [Utah Gov. Spencer Cox], found what he said ‘inflammatory’ or worse. But that’s not the point.”
Navarro framed free speech and democratic institutions as the proper avenues for political contestation. “He has the right to say it. I have the right to disagree and find it abhorrent. But our weapon in this country is debate. Our weapon is freedom of speech. Our weapon is organizing. Our weapon is our vote. Our weapon should never, ever be a gun,” she said.
The View first addressed the assassination on its Sept. 11 episode, when co-host Sunny Hostin said, “I cannot believe that someone would kill another person because they were speaking their beliefs. This is antithetical to who we are as Americans. The First Amendment is the First Amendment for a reason. We should be able to voice whatever opinions that we have.”
President Trump has publicly blamed what he described as “the radicals on the left” for Kirk’s murder and has said he plans to attend Kirk’s funeral, according to Navarro’s comments on the program. Navarro contrasted that response with what she described as less prominent presidential attention to the killing of Hortman and her husband, an incident that Navarro noted left two children without parents.
Navarro and her co-hosts largely disagreed with Kirk’s political positions but used the segment to underscore the broader point that political disputes should be resolved through debate and democratic processes rather than violence. The View airs weekdays on ABC at 11 a.m. Eastern.
The discussion on The View follows national attention to the killing of Kirk, who founded conservative youth organization Turning Point USA and had been a prominent voice in conservative media. Authorities have said the shooting occurred on a Utah college campus last week; investigators have released few public details about motive or a suspect. Media coverage of the incident has included scrutiny of speeches and rhetoric in the current polarized environment, and of public officials’ responses to politically charged acts of violence.
Navarro’s remarks add to ongoing debates about political rhetoric, accountability and the responsibilities of public figures in the wake of violent attacks on political actors. She emphasized that irrespective of political views, democratic dispute resolution — citing speech, organizing and voting — must remain the means for pursuing change.