By Alex Vena

Ana Navarro was taken aback by the online response to shots being fired at Saturday night’s (April 25) White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

On Monday’s episode of The View , the Hot Topics Table weighed in on the shooting. While The View‘s co-hosts told viewers on Friday (April 24) why they would not be attending the annual event, they solemnly addressed the horrifying ordeal on Monday. Alyssa Farah Griffin began by taking a moment to thank law enforcement.

“So first and foremost, God bless law enforcement, Secret Service, D.C. Metro Police,” she said, noting that they “acted swiftly” and by doing so, “the threat was neutralized well before [the gunman] got near the ballroom.”

Griffin continued, “But when you hear shots ring out, I can just imagine in this climate, in this culture we live in, how terrifying it is.”

For Griffin, her “first thought” was to text The View EP Brian Teta, who was attending the dinner “on behalf of the team.” She ultimately highlighted the “problem with political violence” dominating the U.S.

“It is not right that it almost becomes, like, ‘Ok, I’m scrolling to the next thing on Instagram. Of course there was a shooting,'” she added. “People are becoming desensitized to this. It’s not like it was 20 years ago if this had happened. If it was [Ronald] Reagan’s assassination attempt at the Hilton, as well. That was news for weeks on end. This is what happens now. People get radicalized and people try to kill people in our politics. It is not right, and leaders need to come together, condemn it, and come up with actual solutions.”

Navarro recalled hearing CNN‘s Wolf Blitzer, who she deemed “a mentor,”a close friend, and one of the most unflappable men on TV” in the car, ” regale how “scary this was” on the radio. After acknowledging that she and her co-hosts “could have been” at the dinner as well, and noting that there were “so many people” who they “love and respect” present at the dinner, Navarro shared her thoughts on the surprising reactions online to the shooting.

“I’ll tell you what really hit me, though, was later that night when I was on social media or the next morning,” she reflected. “A good chunk of the country thinks this was staged. I don’t think that, let me just be clear. I don’t think. But where are we in America? When Reagan was shot in 1981, nobody would have thought about that.”

Navarro also cited “the level of influence that misinformation” has on the American people in moments like this.

“I think people have to take stock of just the level of influence that misinformation, that the lies have had on the American psyche, that the first conclusion so many people reach because of the polarization, and because of some of the things our elected officials have done, frankly,” she lamented.

She proceeded to question Trump and those in “his choir” for taking the time to “go push for a ballroom” in the aftermath of the shooting, as opposed to “calling to our better angels and calling for unity.”

“I just think schoolchildren have as much a right to have safe schools as politicians do to have a secure ballroom,” she insisted.

The View airs on weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.