Reporter Kara Swisher and Sunny Hostin went head-to-head on Thursday’s edition of The View over whether White House reporters should push back on President Donald Trump’s attacks.
The conversation centered on Trump’s l attacks on CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins. The president said she had “hatred in her eyes” and “never smiles.”
“In my career, when I was practicing law, I was often told, ‘You should smile more,’ which is an unbelievable thing,” Hostin said. “But I also take a bit of umbrage at the other reporters there because — by the way, the other reporters weren’t smiling. The men weren’t smiling. He didn’t mention that — But I do feel that when when one of your colleagues is attacked in that way, a follow-up question or a statement — someone in the room, maybe one of the men — should have said, ‘Sir, you should not speak to her that way.’ I would have liked to have seen that,” Hostin said.
Swisher did not agree with Hostin.
“Well, I’m going to disagree with you because I think the job of reporters is not to react to that kind of nonsense, right?” Swisher said. “The whole thing is, when you’re a reporter, the story shouldn’t be about you.”
“That is true,” Hostin agreed.
“But it’s really hard,” Swisher continued. “One of the things — I know Kaitlan really well, and he attacks Maggie Haberman, a whole bunch of people I know really well — and to react is the really, is where you lose in that game. Because with these people, every accusation is a confession, so what he is saying is about him and not about her. And I thought she handled it well. She has to be absolutely — she made a joke about Alabama, which is fantastic. But the minute you say something, you get dragged into it in a way that he benefits and you don’t.”
“What about the other reporters? Do you think maybe they should have said —” Hostin started to say.
“No! Nobody should say anything,” Swisher said.
“Because I think this administration is so aberrant, I think it’s just such an abnormal situation. I don’t know that you play by the rules that we used to play by,” Hostin said.
“Because that becomes the story then!” Swisher said. “The fight between him and her. If she responds —”
“Although it’s already the story, right?” Hostin responded.
“No, it’s not, because she then asked a question — by the way, what was really interesting was, she hadn’t asked a question,” Swisher said. “But she then got in about the slush fund, and then he answered in a very different way from Todd Blanche. So, she got what she needed, which was the news.”
