Via the Hill, no one’s still pretending that this person is a Republican or right-winger of any sort, are they?

I mean, certainly the Republican panelists sitting next to her on “The View” aren’t.

Because if anyone is, I’ll gently ask: Why would any actual right-winger regard socialism and corrupt, murderous thuggery as mutually exclusive? Even a passing familiarity with the history of the 20th century would convince you that the opposite is true.

Navarro knows the history, she’s just pushing an agenda. Watch this 90-second display, one of the most embarrassing in the history of this frequently embarrassing show. The dumbest moment is when she appears to conclude that Rand Paul, libertarian, is *defending Maduro* and denying that he’s a thug.

Obviously, when Paul says “That’s not true,” he’s not denying that Maduro is an autocrat. He’s denying Navarro’s point that there’s some either/or choice between “autocrat” and “socialist” when, again, basic political reality cuts the other way. Navarro is annoyed because her ardent anti-Trumpism has turned her into a Democratic voter, whether formally declared or not, and one of Trump’s core attacks next fall on the Democratic nominee will be to call him or her a socialist. I’m not being cute about her affiliation either — this was published just a few weeks ago:

Ana Navarro-Cárdenas, a Florida GOP operative who backed Jeb Bush in 2016 and has been close to Sen. Marco Rubio, attended a Biden campaign event last weekend, sitting on the front row stroking her dog Chacha. Biden turned to her and said, “I’ve got to sort of genuflect in this direction here because I’m afraid of her. No. I’m embarrassing her, I know — that’s my intention. We’ve been good friends for a long time.”

Biden’s the most centrist member of the Democratic top tier, but given Navarro’s relentless antipathy to Trump it’s a cinch that she’ll end up supporting Elizabeth Warren or even Bernie Sanders in the name of ousting the president. All she’s trying to do here with Paul is neutralize the coming GOP electoral argument that Bernie/AOC-style democratic socialism will lead to Maduro-style Chavista socialism in due time if it’s granted power. Trump was elected once before as a lesser of two evils; if he can convince voters that he’s the lesser of two evils again, he might get another four years. Paul was about to make the case that “good socialism” and “bad socialism” are less distinct than we might hope so she started huffing about “mansplaining” and successfully shouted him down.

.@ananavaro was shouting over my answer – which was Maduro’s violence and thuggery is made possible by the centralized power of his socialist government. @TheView should let guests answer!

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) October 11, 2019

Why is Navarro even on this show? If they’re looking for a Democrat, they have plenty of those already. If they’re looking for a Republican who hates Trump, they have Meghan McCain. What niche is Ana filling?