During Monday’s episode of “The View,” co-host Sunny Hostin sparked the latest controversy for the show by describing January 6, 2021, as one of the “worst moments in American history,” comparing the riot at the US Capitol to the Holocaust and World War II.
“I think we need to find moral clarity, you know, in this country,” Hostin said. “And I just remember, after January 6, you had someone like Mitch McConnell placing the blame on January 6 where it belonged, squarely on Donald Trump’s shoulders. And then, you started seeing people backtrack that and losing their moral center. You had Condoleeza Rice I believe on this very show saying, ‘You know what, we need to move on from January 6.’”
“I say no, you don’t move on because January 6 was an atrocity,” she continued. “It was one of the worst moments in American history. And, when you think about the worst moments in American history, like World War II, things that happened like the Holocaust, chattel slavery, we need to never forget because [the] past becomes prologue if you forget any race.”
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Hostin’s remarks were met with applause from the audience, as she emphasized the need to remember the past to avoid repeating it. However, many have since condemned her comparisons as offensive and trivializing the actual historical atrocities of the Holocaust and World War II.
Addressing Hostin’s claim directly: the Second World War resulted in the deaths of 20 million military personnel and over 40 million civilians, while the Holocaust consisted of the targeted purging of an estimated 10 million people across multiple groups. The exact number of victims of the transatlantic slave trade is difficult to determine, but some estimates put it as high as 13 million between 1501 and 1867.
In contrast, the riot at the Capitol in 2021 resulted in the death of one woman, Ashli Babbit, a Trump supporter who was shot by a Capitol police officer as she attempted to push through a barricade into a restricted area. Though several other protesters suffered health complications and drug overdoses at the scene and multiple law enforcement officers were assaulted, no other deaths have ever been conclusively attributed to the riot.
Supporters of Hostin argue that acknowledging the severity of January 6 is crucial for political discourse as the nation approaches the 2024 presidential election.
The discussion has sparked significant debate on social media and among political commentators, particularly given the day’s congressional proceedings to peacefully certify Donald Trump’s electoral victory.
Connor Walcott is the lead writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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