Sunny Hostin Slams Democrats Who Censured Al Green: ‘They Should Be Ashamed of Themselves’

Amanda Bell March 7, 2025, 12:17 pm

The first two “Hot Topics” on Friday’s (March 7) new edition of The View brought out some serious fire from cohost Sunny Hostin.

The subject of Representative Al Green‘s censure in Congress was the opener, and no one was more impassioned about it than Hostin. Moderator Joy Behar introduced the story with clips of Green interrupting Donald Trump‘s address to Congress to state that he doesn’t have a mandate to reduce Medicaid and House Speaker Mike Johnson then saying it wasn’t “proper decorum” and does “damage” to the institution of Congress. To that, Behar asked, “What about an insurrection? Does that do damage to the institution?”

As Behar showed footage of some Democrats joining Green in a chorus of song to show support for him amid the censure vote, she also noted that 10 Democrats voted alongside Republicans on the matter, and Hostin then tossed her a page of notes, insisting Behar read out their names.

“They don’t know how to fight and be part of an opposition party,” Hostin said. “Representative Green gave them the example. The Democrats are not meeting the moment. It’s very clear Medicaid is on the table. It’s very clear that Social Security is on the table. It’s very clear that people will die. The Baby Boomers, the Civil Rights generation, they knew what they had to do. They were willing to fight and die for their rights. This generation of Congress, they are not meeting the moment. And also, I might point out, some of them are from the most liberal states, like New York, Hawaii, California. They should be ashamed of themselves.”

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Before reading out the names, as Hostin requested, Behar noted, “Where was all this talk about decorum from Republicans when Majorie Taylor Green was screaming at Biden?”

Alyssa Farah Griffin had her own complaint about the Democrats, rhetorically asking, “Who are they being advised by, people who use Windows 98?” Ana Navarro also pointed out that interruptions of presidential speeches really got started several administrations ago: “We all remember when Joe Wilson, the Republican congressman, stood up against Barack Obama, giving a State of the Union, and called him a liar. We saw Marjorie Taylor Green, Lauren Boebert. The Congressional hearings lately have devolved into shouting matches that are shameful, and frankly, like you, I have a really hard time being lectured by Republicans who are trying to whitewash and rewrite history.” And Sara Haines slammed Congress in general for focusing on this instead of their immediate need to pass a budget: “Right now we have an impending government shutdown coming up that’s coming up. 70,000 jobs at the VA military [are being targeted by Elon Musk and DOGE for cuts], aid and intelligence sharing to Ukraine was just suspended. Those are problems that people care about. Stop fighting like little wieners in D.C. and start answering to your constituents.”

Hostin took issue with Haines’ comments, pointing out that the threats to Medicaid and VA staffers are coming from Republicans, so the Democrats’ actions aren’t hindering any progress on those fronts. But Haines was undeterred. “Stop holding up signs, stop censoring the left and then the right and then screaming at each other,” she said.

In the second segment, Hostin got spicy with Griffin on the subject of who Democrats should unite behind as a party leader. Behar asked her to list off her own picks for people who could possibly emerge as the face of the party — “Someone who has experience; if we want to talk about meritocracy,” she said before listing off Governors J.B. Pritzker, Gavin Newsom, and Andy Beshear, along with Hakeem Jeffries. Others pitched their suggestions, including Griffin, who is not a Democrat herself but said, “He knows how to communicate, and that is what is missing… Tens of millions of people listen to him because he knows how to talk like a human being. Democrats just want to give their stump speeches like it’s the 1990s,” she argued.

“He cannot run this country, Alyssa,” Hostin retorted mid-sentence. “I would love a return to Windows 9 versus what we are dealing with right now.”

The View, Weekdays, 11 a.m. ET, ABC