‘The View’ Cohosts Divided Over Whether Democrats Should’ve Forced a Government Shutdown

Amanda Bell March 17, 2025, 12:21 pm

Sara Haines and Ana Navarro on The View — ABC

The View fans will definitely want to tune into Tuesday’s (March 18) episode to see some potential fireworks as Chuck Schumer, who leads Democrats in the Senate, joins the show to promote his book and field a battery of timely questions from the panelists. But audiences of Monday’s show got to witness some early sparks as the subject of Schumer’s yes vote for the continuing resolution drew the ire of some members of his party who perceived it as acquiescing to Donald Trump and Elon Musk‘s political agenda.

First, the cohosts reviewed footage of Schumer justifying his decision by saying, “The CR is bad. It’s a whole lot worse to shut down the government. Elon Musk, DOGE, and Donald Trump will use the power to shut down the government to fire hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of workers, shut down whole departments, and shrink the government for tax cuts for billionaires.” They then screened statements from other prominent members of the party criticizing Schumer and even calling for his replacement in leadership.

Sara Haines was the first to speak up in defense of Schumer’s vote, saying, “He had two awful options… I actually agree that a government shutdown never looks good on the party that seems to be the one that’s asking for it.” She went on to say that if the government were to shut down, it would empower the so-called Department of Government Efficiency to have “legal permission for the executive branch to do whatever the hell he wants right now.”

Ana Navarro, however, begged to differ, saying, “I love you, but I don’t buy that explanation from you or from Schumer because they’re already doing that.” And while Haines countered that the courts are considering several challenges to DOGE’s authority, Navarro insisted, “They don’t care about what the courts are saying.”

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Haines reacted by asking whether Navarro herself cares about what’s right and wrong in the eyes of the law, Navarro raised her voice and said, “It doesn’t matter what I care about. It’s already happening, and we can stand here on principle and care a lot about [the law], they don’t care about the court judgments. They ignore them.”

Alyssa Farah Griffin criticized Schumer’s early messaging against the resolution but agreed with his decision to support it in the end and added, “Here’s the thing most people don’t know. Who decides what stays open in a government shutdown? The Office of Management and Budget, which is run by a man appointed by Donald Trump named Russell Vought. You all may remember he is the architect of Project 2025. Do you think he’s going to keep the goods and services Democrats care most about open? No… It would literally, actually implement DOGE without having to have DOGE in place. I think he did the prudent, responsible thing.”

Sunny Hostin had a different take on the matter, arguing that Schumer should’ve stuck to his opposition instinct: “This was a fight that needed to happen, and it didn’t happen because of Chuck Schumer,” she said. “Republicans would have had to own that government shutdown. They have control of everything, and it would have been squarely on their backs.”

Hostin went on to demand, “The fight going on in the Democratic Party right now is not between the hard left, the left, and moderates; it’s between those who want to fight and those who want to cave. I want a party that doesn’t want to cave. I want a party that’s an opposition party. Because what Schumer just did is he cleared the way for Donald Trump and Elon Musk to gut Social Security, to cut Medicare, to cut Medicaid. That is unacceptable, and it’s past time for Democrats to fight and stop acting like it’s business as usual and fighting by the rules because the rule book has been thrown out by the Republican Party.”

Stay tuned to see whether and how the cohosts bring these strong opinions to bear when Schumer comes on the show on Tuesday.

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