The View’s Ana Navarro has called JD Vance a “DEI mercenary” for calling himself a “country bumpkin.”
The Republican talk show panelist made the statement on CNN NewsNight With Abby Phillip on Monday, after several Republican lawmakers made the same claim about Kamala Harris, Joe Biden’s last-minute replacement.
Navarro, in turn, delved deeper into Vance’s origins, which he explored further in his 2016 book Hillbilly Elegy, in which he referred to his Appalachian roots and his family’s rural Kentucky roots.
In reality, Vance, 39, spent most of his childhood in a southwestern Ohio suburb. The novel has since been turned into a Netflix film — one that Vance embraced when he used it to secure his first term as a junior senator.
Navarro, 52, backtracked on these facts when she mercilessly stripped the potential vice president.
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The View’s Ana Navarro on Monday called JD Vance a ‘DEI mercenary’ for calling himself a ‘country bumpkin’
The Republican talk show panelist made the statement on CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip Monday after several GOP lawmakers made the same claim about Joe Biden’s last-minute replacement, Kamala Harris.
“It’s really funny when I hear JD Vance talking about Kamala Harris being a DEI candidate,” began the self-described centrist who has long expressed her disdain for Donald Trump.
“Because I think he got a book contract, I think he got a TV contract, I think he got a moving contract because he’s a DEI hire,” she said.
“You want to talk about DEI? You came on and you were going to be the hillbilly translator, which is something that was sorely missing on national TV and in movies,” she continued.
“We’re going to talk about hiring someone because of what they represent and the color of their skin and where they come from? Let’s start with JD Vance.”
The criticism didn’t stop there. Navarro was no doubt referring to some other headlines about the divisive candidate, since he was mentioned as Trump’s second-place candidate less than two weeks ago.
“I am astounded by the lack of vetting in the Trump campaign, which had plenty of time to pick a vice president,” Navarro said, as Vance has faced criticism for calling some Democratic leaders “single cat ladies” in 2021.
“I’m just amazed at what all came out of it.”
One of the scandals she alluded to in passing was the allegation that the senator had sex with a bank, an allegation that also appears in his book.
The self-described Republican who has been outspoken about her hatred of Donald Trump took aim at Vance’s early life, which he himself explored in his 2016 book ‘Hillbilly Elegy’
In reality, Vance — pictured here as Usha Chilukuri Vance — spent most of his childhood in a southwestern Ohio suburb, a fact he seemed to ignore as he focused on his identity as an Appalachian descendant
A week earlier, Tennessee Republican Rep. Tim Burchett suggested that Harris was chosen as Biden’s running mate solely because she is Black.
“She is 100 percent a DEI hire,” the 59-year-old said, prompting lawmakers including Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming and Rep. Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin to express nearly identical sentiments.
“Her track record is poor at best.”
Hageman also called Harris a “DEI mercenary” and called her “intellectually just kind of the bottom of the scale.”
Grothman, in turn, told CBS News station WDJT in Milwaukee that “Democrats feel like they have to support her because of her ethnic background.”
Navarro wasn’t in the mood for it on Monday, after having expressed his disgust the day before on The View about Vance’s resurfaced “cat lady” comments.
“They gave him, JD Vance, so many chances to forget his comment about the childless cat lady, and he couldn’t,” Navarro said.
“He ended up apologizing to the cats instead of the women!” she added, referring to the senator’s haphazard apologies.
A week earlier, several Republicans suggested that Democratic nominee and current Vice President Kamala Harris had been selected as Biden’s running mate solely because she is Black
She called the expression of remorse fake and said the Ohio senator “really means it.”
“Because that’s his intention,” she told co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behart and others.
“He has said more than once that he thinks that people without children are bad and should be punished… He wants people with children to have more voting rights. He wants people with children to pay less taxes.”
“But this is what I want to tell him,” Navarro continued. “There are women who don’t have children because they are free to choose to, and there are women like me who don’t have children because we couldn’t.
“And how dare you tell me that I am less? How dare you tell me that I have less rights and less voting rights than others?”
Vance voted against the Democratic-backed Right to IVF Act last month, but did support a Republican-backed bill, the IVF Protection Act, that would strip states of their Medicaid funding if they banned IVF treatments.
During a question-and-answer session with Kelly over the weekend, Vance explained that he is pro-IVF within reason, leading many pundits and conservative commentators, such as Ben Shapiro, to express concerns about the GOP’s pick for vice president.
“I think we need to protect the rights of Christian hospitals to operate in the way they want to operate,” he said. “But that is of course completely consistent with promoting fertility treatment for parents who need it.”
The dress-down came a day after Navarro, a political strategist who calls himself a centrist, mocked Vance’s running mate’s recent ear injury following the attempt on his life earlier this month. The joke was met with laughter and applause.
Meanwhile, on the latest episode of his eponymous show, Shapiro joined the many who criticized the senator for the outrage the resurfaced interview has sparked.
“I think he would have chosen someone like Glenn Youngkin from Virginia to broaden his base,” he said, referring to Republican candidate Trump.
“Instead, he went with JD Vance because he felt that because he was right at the time, he had a huge advantage in the race against Joe Biden.”
Harris, who has not yet been officially confirmed as the Democratic nominee, has not yet announced a running mate.
Navarro came under heavy criticism last week for mocking the ear injury Vance’s running mate suffered after an assassination attempt over the weekend.
“What we saw yesterday was a replay of Trump’s 90-minute rallies,” she said.
“Too bad the bandage was just over his ear. It should have been over his mouth.”