Popular television personality Judge Judy Sheindlin issued a response to the backlash she’s receiving after making an epic “love-it-or-leave-it” rant about America in September, going on to explain that she wasn’t referring to America as being “perfect,” but that the country is built upon specific principles that she feels compelled to fight for.
“I have a house, and I have a home. I consider America my home,” Sheindlin went on to say in an interview with USA Today. “America has been good to me. I think that it’s the greatest country in the world.” She then added, “If you don’t like this country, go somewhere else.” Judge Judy then said that people shouldn’t want to make changes to the most successful country in the world.
“Don’t come to the greatest country in the world, the most successful country in the world, and say, ‘I want to change it.’ There are other countries that are the something else that you want. Go there. Go there. But don’t come into my home and say, ‘I want to change it,'” Sheindlin said. The hosts of ABC’s dreadful morning talk show, “The View” spent an entire segment on Judge Judy’s comments.
According to a report from Fox News, co-hosts Sara Haines and Alyssa Farah Griffin were quick to come to Sheindlin’s defense, but their colleagues, Sunny Hostin and Ana Navarro were highly disappointed in what the judge had to say. Hostin said she detected “selfishness” in Sheindlin’s words, arguing that they were too focused on individual success.
She then seemingly suggested that true patriotism means fighting to make the nation better for everyone. “I take umbrage with what she said, and I don’t like it at all,” Navarro said during the segment. The co-host then said that she herself loves America and that’s the reason she has “the duty and responsibility to call out the grift and the cruelty and the racism and the abuses of power and the anti-American actions that [Trump] is taking on.”
Sheindlin responded to Hostin’s comments by stating she didn’t really understand what the talk show host was trying to say. “If you listen to what I said, I was saying my country is America,” she said in comments delivered to Fox Digital. “Every American should feel that way. And America is my home. Everybody should feel that way. So, when I said ‘my,’ I wasn’t limiting it to myself.”
When it came to responding to Navarro’s comments, the judge said she takes everything she says with “a grain of salt,” going on to add, “I accept criticism, and you can criticize my view, which was not that the country is perfect — and I did say in that interview that there’s nothing wrong with tweaking this country,” Sheindlin said in the interview with Fox.
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“Everything can always be better. I mean, if you live in a house — which I compared America to — if you live in a house, the house could always be better. It could use a fresh coat of paint every once in a while. Sometimes it needs new carpeting. Sometimes it will need a new stove or refrigerator to keep it functioning optimally. You have to upgrade your television sets or else you won’t be able to get certain programming and high definition. That’s tweaking,” she said.
“There’s a difference between tweaking your house and burning it down,” Sheindlin said. “And this country was founded on certain principles,” she continued. “And where those principles are being tested and saying those are not the right principles. I mean, if you’re a capitalistic country, you’re not a socialistic country.” She then explained that the foundation of the U.S. is capitalism.
“The basis of this country is a capitalist country,” she said. “And when you say, ‘Well, we don’t want capitalism anymore, we want socialism,’ that’s where I draw the line. Because then you are fiddling around with what this country is about.” The popular television judge said that socialism is not popular with the majority of Americans, stating that most people agree with her comments.
“The very vocal minority won’t address the statement,” she further explained. “They try to shut you up by giving you a negative name, by calling you names which they hope will lead you to shut up. Not responding to the message and saying, ‘Judy, I understand what you’re saying, but not everyone comes from a background where they see their life being fulfilled in this country… so that everyone has potential to reach the American Dream.’” She then made it clear that she wouldn’t be silenced. “It’s gonna take a lot more than Ana Navarro to shut me up.”
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video