On Friday’s taped edition of The View, co-hosts Joy Behar and Ana Navarro whined that there’s no current counter to the GOP and that democracy has somehow disappeared during President Trump’s tenure. ABC’s signature grumblers couldn’t end the week without propping up Democrats at the expense of the right.
In reaction to Governor Gavin Newsom’s late-night fearmongering with cancelled Stephen Colbert on Tuesday about how there might not be an election in 2028, Navarro sympathized more softly:
And, no, I don’t think this is a time to panic. But it’s a time to be aware. And if we want any guardrails in America, we need to make sure that next year a Democratic House and/or Senate gets elected, because today [Applause] there are no guardrails […] We need oversight which we’re sorely lacking.
What an attack on the liberal media! When the left complains about “guardrails,” they’re thinking about the first Trump term, with a couple of impeachments and special prosecutors and constant predictions that Trump was going to be removed before his term ended….the good old days.
As to be expected, screwed-up Behar concluded that Trump’s administrations single-handedly broke “democracy”:
So, if you are worried about where the country is heading, you’re not alone. 79 percent of American voters that think that the U.S. is in a state of political crisis. And more than half think democracy isn’t working. It’s funny, under Obama and Biden it was working. All of a sudden it’s not working. Gee, what happened?
But if you got to 79 percent, that has to have a load of Trump voters in there. It’s a new Quinnipiac poll. “In the wake of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, 79 percent of voters say the United States is in a political crisis, while 18 percent say it is not,” and that includes 60 percent of Republicans. But 74 percent of Republicans insisted democracy is working.
Navarro continued her lamentation over Democrats being out of power:
But I also think why people don’t feel democracy is working, is because our system is supposed to work through a system of checks and balances and today, unfortunately, there are no checks and balances. The Congress is a fickle organization of rubber-stamping Republicans that do zero oversight over the abuses of the Trump administration. [Applause] And the courts have no enforcement mechanism, so they can, you know, they can issue judicial orders but they don’t have the teeth to be able to enforce them.
In 2021, the Democrats controlled both houses of Congress and they didn’t panic over “rubber-stamping Democrats who do zero oversight over the Biden administration.” Their big investigation was the January 6 investigation.
The Republican-controlled Congress isn’t pushing back on Trump, yes. But checks and balances haven’t magically eroded. Republicans need a handful of Democrats to pass their Continuing Resolution in order to prevent a government shutdown. Some blue states have called special sessions to redistrict in response to Trump pushing for red state redistricting. And when a liberal federal judge suspends something Trump does, he still has to ask the Supreme Court for help.
These aren’t necessarily good indicators of a healthy republic, but they demonstrate that there are still “checks and balances,” even when Republicans are in power.
The transcript is below. Click “expand” read:
ABC’s The View
September 26, 2025
11:02:51 a.m. Eastern
(…)
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA) [on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, 09/23/25]: I fear that we will not have an election in 2028. I really mean that. In the core of my soul, unless we wake up to the code red, what’s happening in this country, and we wake up soberly to how serious this moment is.
[Cuts back to live]
[Applause]
JOY BEHAR: It looks like the audience is agrees with Gavin Newsom. What do you say? Should we panic?
ANA NAVARRO: No, I don’t think this is a time to panic. But I think this is a time to realize — and this week and all the debate we’ve been having about the First Amendment, I think, and freedom of speech reminds us all that freedoms and rights and the Constitution are not passive and they must be defended and fought for.
Behar: Right.
NAVARRO: And, no, I don’t think this is a time to panic. But it’s a time to be aware. And if we want any guardrails in America, we need to make sure that next year a Democratic House and/or Senate gets elected, because today [Applause] there are no guardrails.
SARA HAINES: Yeah — oh, sorry.
NAVARRO: We need oversight which we’re sorely lacking.
(…)
11:13:32 a.m. Eastern
BEHAR: So, if you are worried about where the country is heading, you’re not alone. 79 percent of American voters that think that the U.S. is in a state of political crisis. And more than half think democracy isn’t working. It’s funny, under Obama and Biden it was working. All of a sudden it’s not working. Gee, what happened?
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: I don’t know that that’s what the poll says.
BEHAR: I know, but I’m saying it. I’m saying that.
(…)
11:14:57 a.m. Eastern
NAVARRO: Look, I think it didn’t mean enough to people because they had for gotten how bad Trump was. I think it meant a lot to people in 2020, when Joe Biden was first running, because we were just, you know, surviving that first Trump term. I think if somebody was running now against Trump, when people have been painfully reminded of what an authoritarian he is, it would be very different.
But I also think why people don’t feel democracy is working, is because our system is supposed to work through a system of checks and balances and today, unfortunately, there are no checks and balances. The Congress is a fickle organization of rubber-stamping Republicans that do zero oversight over the abuses of the Trump administration. [Applause] And the courts have no enforcement mechanism, so they can, you know, they can issue judicial orders but they don’t have the teeth to be able to enforce them.
(…)
